


Ghostly Presence

by Windfighter



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen, Sorry Emil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 22:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12616608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windfighter/pseuds/Windfighter
Summary: When Lalli is out scouting he notice something following him. Something that's stealing energy from Emil.





	1. Cover




	2. Ghostly Presence

Lalli ran through the streets of Odense, trying to find a secure path for his team mates. He memorised turns, broken buildings, weird spirits, blocked roads. As he doubled back to avoid encounter with a beast he felt a presence by his side. He couldn't see anything and concluded that it probably wasn't Onni. He made a mental note to ask his cousin about it later anyway.

As the night went on the presence slowly got stronger. Lalli started worrying. What if it was something mean-spirited? What if it followed him back to the tank? Could he risk it? He decided to not turn back until he was certain the presence meant no harm.

When dawn started rolling in Lalli could almost, but not quite, make out what was following him. He could almost see the vague shape of four legs, could almost make out the long neck covered by golden locks, could almost feel the tail brushing his back. Almost, but not quite.

The presence felt warm. Warm and secure, and Lalli felt energized by it. It was probably safe to return to the camp, but he would make sure to report it, just in case. He continued down new roads that would take him back.

The crazy Norwegian lady waved at him when he got closer and Tuuri hurried back into the tank to get the map. Mikkel joined Sigrun's side, Lalli could see the decontamination kit in his hand and the weird foreign mage smiled at him where he sat on the stairs to the tank. Lalli frowned. One of his team mates was missing. Had he missed an attack?

Mikkel caught him, forced him through the decontamination, and he quickly marked the map Tuuri held out to him. Once done Lalli looked at his cousin, decided to ask the question that pressed his mind.

”Did something happen?”

Tuuri looked confused, then shook her head. Lalli almost decided to rephrase the question, in case he had been unclear, but decided not to and went inside after having looked at the so called food that the cookie supplier had made. Something moved in the bedroom and Lalli froze.

”Åh, redan tillbaka?”

Emil yawned and sat up in the bed before smiling at Lalli.

”Jag måste ha missat larmet. Jag är glad att du är tillbaka.”

Lalli felt how the presence that had followed him slowly went away and he tilted his head, looked at the Swede.

”...Du förstår inte ett ord av vad jag säger, va?”

Lalli shook his head, pulled his grey sweater over his head and sank down under Tuuri's bed. Emil looked at him, then they heard Sigrun's voice through the door and Emil yawned again before hurrying out. Lalli looked at the door, then closed his eyes. They would want him out again in the night, he should try to get some rest.

xxxxxx

The presence arrived about an hour after he had left camp. He couldn't make it out, it was simply a vague, slightly illuminated shadow by his side. He felt energized when it started running by his side and as he had hardly been able to sleep during the day, his mind occupied with the present presence, the newfound energy was welcomed.

Several times he turned towards it, tried to figure out what it was, but was unable to. It wasn't an omen, omen were usually more visible. It wasn't one of the weird spirits following them, because they were far behind. The presence did nothing, only followed him.

Emil was the last one to greet him when he came back, not waking up until Lalli entered the room. Lalli frowned slightly when he saw the Swede yawning. Emil had always been quick to greet him before, had always seemed to worry about him running off on his own. Had it changed?

”Gick det bra? Hyvää... uh... Vänta, det är nog fel...”

Lalli had understood the word ”bra”. ”Well, good”, but he wasn't sure what the Swede meant. Lalli nodded slightly, felt the presence disappearing as the Swede got out of bed and watched as Emil got dressed and left the room. The presence reappeared, vaguer than during the night but still there, as Sigrun and Emil left the camp. Lalli looked towards it, not able to make it out. It still made him feel energized and he turned his back towards it, but was unable to fall asleep. With a sigh he kicked his cover off and got out off the room. The person with the stupid braid looked behind him as he came out.

”Stop looking so stupid, it's not dangerous.”

”Hafðu ekki áhyggjur, það er líklegast ekki hættulegt.”

Lalli rolled his eyes and poked Tuuri's shoulder. She took the headphones off and looked at him.

”Radio”, Lalli said and pointed towards it. ”I need to talk to Onni.”

”Oh, I'm not sure they're there. No one's answering. They're probably getting food or something.”

Lalli's eyes got narrower and he brushed her aside, took her chair and put the headphones over his ears. Tuuri looked at him, shook her head and left him alone as he listened to the beeping in the headphones, looked towards the presence. It just hung in the air, only visible as a slight disturbance in the air.

”Hvað er þetta eiginlega?”

Lalli ignored the foreign mage, waited patiently for anyone to answer on the other end. He ate a little when Mikkel placed a bowl of food infront of him, but otherwise he ignored the other four in the tank. The kitty tried to play with him, but he shoved her towards Reynir.

When the sun was creeping closer to the horizon he felt the presence disappear and just a few moments later he heard Emil and Sigrun talking. He put the headphones down and went out to greet them. Emil yawned and Lalli noticed he had bags under his eyes.

”You need to stop it.”

Emil looked confused but seemed happy to see him. Lalli looked towards the sky, tried to find words Emil would understand.

”...Sluta.”

Emil looked even more confused, yawned and patted Lalli's shoulder.

”Du behöver inte oroa dig, jag är okay.”

Lalli frowned, but Emil smiled at him before the Dane pulled him away for decontamination.

xxxxxx

One and a half week had past since Lalli first felt the presence. Onni had told him Swedes were unable to use magic as far as he knew, but he had promised to try and find out more. As for what the presence could be he had no clue, but told Lalli to be careful around it.

Lalli didn't need to be careful. He knew it came from Emil and that it somehow transferred energy from the Swede to Lalli. He had noticed Emil getting more and more tired as time went on, sleeping in more and more often, falling asleep the moment he sat down. Lalli had asked him several times to stop sending it, but Emil had not understood his request.

For the moment Lalli had fallen asleep. Cuddled up under Emil's bed he dreamt about Finland, about Saimaa and Keuruu. Emil, Sigrun and Kisu was out again and Lalli knew the presence was standing next to him. It had gotten more visible during the last few days, but Lalli had stopped paying it any attention. Even the stupid foreign mage had accepted it, probably thinking it was Lalli's luonto since Lalli had heard the red-head and Onni talk about it a week ago. Lalli was certain the Icelander didn't really understood what a luonto was.

In his dreams he wandered along roads he knew by heart, along roads his memory had long since forgotten, listened to the sounds of the town, of the nature. He walked into the forests, not fearing beasts since it was only a dream.

A neigh cut through the silence; sharp, distressed. Lalli opened his eyes, found himself on his raft. A tiny, weird ugly moose was staring at him and when it saw Lalli's eyes open it let out another neigh, even sharper, and Lalli sat up, hit his head on Emil's bed. It stared at him; large round eyes, black as the night and deep as the ocean, but filled with fear and pain. Lalli's eyes swept over it, its fur was short and brown, its mane long and golden and its tummy chubby and... red.

Lalli rolled out of the bed, rushed out and grabbed the Icelander, pointing towards the pony limping after him. Reynir looked at it, his eyes widening and he said something in Ielandic that Lalli didn't understand, didn't need to understand, and he let the mage go again. Reynir had seen it. Lalli saw it. Time was running out, Lalli knew it. He had to find the Dane before it was too late. He jumped out of the tank, crashing into the large man's back. Lalli grabbed Mikkel's sleeve, yelled for Tuuri to tell Mikkel to get the medic bag and follow him. Mikkel didn't move and Lalli rushed back inside, grabbed the bag himself and made another attempt to get Mikkel to follow him. Mikkel still didn't move, his eyes looking at Tuuri, searching for an answer about what was going on. Tuuri looked at Lalli, her eyes filled with questions, and Lalli looked at the presence, its stomach redder now than before, its golden mane no longer shining.

”Emil”, Lalli said. ”He's...”

He couldn't finish the sentence, but Reynir did instead, not knowing what Lalli had said. Lalli couldn't understand the words that came through the Icelander's mouth, but Mikkel looked sceptical. After what felt like an eternity Mikkel nodded, gestured for Tuuri and Reynir to stay inside the tank and for Lalli to lead the way.

Lalli started running. Slower than he was able to, but as fast as the Dane could follow. He knew where the others had gone, having listened as the Norwegian made up the plan. The slow pace made him anxious and as they got closer to the building he pulled the rifle off his back. Beside him the presence fell to its knees, faded, and Lalli hurried his steps, not waiting for the Dane to follow him. He turned left as he entered the building, made his way through the maze of fallen walls and roof sections. He could already see the spirits of the beasts and as he turned right his eyes fell on the pack of beasts, one of them trying to reach for his friend's throat, but Emil's hand was holding it back.

Then another beast jumped over Emil, its jaw grabbing around Emil's arm. A snapping sound echoed through the room and the beast leaning over Emil sank its teeth into Emil's throat. Lalli fired off one shot from his rifle, the bullet pierced the beast's skull and he threw the rifle to the side, unsheathed his dagger and jumped into the pack, quickly seperating their heads from their bodies before turning his attention to the Swede on the floor.

Emil's face was pale, his clothes bloody and torn and blood was gushing out of the bitemarks on his throat. Lalli fell to his knees next to him, placed his hands over the wounds to stop the bleeding. Mikkel arrived, pulled him away and took his place.

”Hent Sigrun. Vi er nødt til at forlade.”

Lalli caught Sigrun's name, nodded and ran back, past the entrance, took a left turn and ran into the Norwegian.

”Sigrun! Emil! Emil's...”

His knees gave way, hit the floor and darkness swirled his mind.

”...hurt...”

Lalli fainted.

xxxxxx

When Lalli came to it he was slumped over Sigrun's back. He started moving, but Sigrun took a tighter grip around him and he stopped, tried to find Emil and Mikkel instead. He found the Dane first, running on Sigrun's left side, and it took a few moments before Lalli's brain registered what he was carrying.

Emil laid motionless in Mikkel's arms; his coat had been pulled off, his sleeves pulled up and bandages covered his arms, his neck, his torso. Blood was covering his face, had been smeared in his hair, and his face was pale, his lips a light shade of purple.

”He's going to be okay.”

Lalli nodded, closed his eyes and rested his head against Sigrun's back. He opened them again when he heard her banging the door to the tank.

”Masks on!”

Tuuri answered something, her voice muffled through the door and Sigrun banged it again before saying something in Norwegian. The door opened, Tuuri and Reynir hurried outside, panic in their eyes. They gasped loudly when they saw Emil in Mikkel's arms and Lalli looked tiredly at them. Tuuri turned to him, opened her mouth to ask something, but before she was able to utter a word Sigrun went inside, placed Lalli on Tuuri's bed. She turned around as Mikkel entered and Lalli watched him as he placed Emil on his bed and leaned over him. Sigrun patted Lalli's shoulder, said something to Mikkel and left the room. Lalli tried to keep his eyes open, tried to see what the Dane was doing, how Emil was doing, but when Sigrun came inside again he fell asleep.

He woke up again when he felt someone pulling at his clothes and opened his eyes, looked at Mikkel who was leaning over him.

”Sleep”, Mikkel said slowly.

Lalli turned his head, looked towards Emil. Mikkel's voice again and Lalli drifted off once more. Next time he awoke the tank was moving. He heard the Icelander say something to him, to Tuuri and then he was asleep again.

The following days passed in a fog for Lalli. A couple of times he woke up with Mikkel leaning over him, another time with everyone sleeping, Tuuri on the floor with her head resting on Reynir's arm since Lalli laid in her bed. Another time Sigrun and Mikkel were arguing and a couple of times the sound of battle snuck into his dreams.

xxxxxx

Lalli wasn't sure how much time had passed when he finally woke up. The bedroom was empty apart from him and Emil and he took a closer look at his friend. Emil was still pale, his cheeks slightly red, and he was shivering slightly under the blanket. Lalli pulled his fingers through Emil's hair and wiped the sweat off his forehead before getting up.

Dizzyness grabbed him and he took hold of Sigrun's bed until it passed. He pulled his hand through his own hair, over his forehead. Even though he was shivering he was sweating and he grabbed the blanket he had slept under, put it over his head and wrapped it around himself. He wobbled as he made his way to the door and tried to pry it open. It took all his strenght and he leaned heavily against the doorframe when he was done. Activity ceased inside the tank as they noticed him and as Mikkel fussed over him he turned to Tuuri.

”Emil, how's...” Lalli's voice broke and Tuuri looked apologetically at him. She got out of the chair, put an arm around his waist and led him back to the bed.

”Mikkel says you should try to get some more rest, your fever is still pretty high...”

Lalli didn't lay down, he just looked towards the Swede, and Tuuri followed his gaze.

”He's going to be alright, don't worry.”

Lalli didn't move and Mikkel came into the room, noticed both of the Finns looking at Emil. He forced Lalli to lay down, but smiled towards the younger man.

”Han kommer til at være i orden, Lalli. OK. Understand?” Mikkel looked at Tuuri, said something to her and she averted her eyes but he repeated it and she nodded.

”Mikkel says he's going to be fine. He's lost a lot of blood and has gotten a very high fever. There's also bite- and clawmarks pretty much all over him, but I guess you know that...”

Lalli's eyelids was starting to drop, but he forced himself to listen to his cousin.

”Mikkel also suspect some torned ligaments and stuff, but he can't say for sure how bad it is until Emil wakes up. Both of you have been asleep for about four days now...”

Tuuri's voice faded and Lalli found himself on the raft again, sank back into a deeper sleep. It felt like only ten minutes had past wen he joined the waking world again, but he was certain it had been longer. He sat up, stretched. He felt better this time.

Emil was still sleeping and Lalli kneeled next to his bed, watched as Emil's chest rose and fell as the Swede breathed. From time to time his face scrunched up, maybe from pain, but then the peacefullness of sleep returned. Lalli leaned his head against the edge of the bed, watched over the sleeping for of his friend. About thirty minutes later Mikkel came into the room and carefully patted Lalli's shoulder.

”Middag serveres, du bør spise lidt.”

Lalli looked at the Dane, tilted his head.

”Uh... Mad. Food”, Mikkel tried.

Lalli turned to Emil again, pulled his fingers through the other's golden hair.

”It's foodtime, Emil. Your favorite time of the day. You should wake up.”

Emil didn't move and Lalli let out a sigh, got up. Mikkel moved in to offer support if he needed, but Lalli strutted past the older man. Sigrun smiled when she saw him.

”Enedlig våken, hæh? Great! We trenger you to...”

”Han er ikke godt endnu, Sigrun.”

Lalli looked at Tuuri for translation, but she was busy with the radio and the Dane sat him down in one of the chairs in the front of the tank before handing him a bowl of food. It was late evening, Lalli judged by the light outside of the car. He could see the disfigured body of a troll just outside of the lights from the car and wrinkled his nose. Tuuri ended the conversation over the radio, said something to Sigrun and joined Lalli in the front.

”Onni wants me to tell you that Swedes can't use magic. And that they have something called a fylgja, which is kind of like a luonto except it isn't.” She noticed what Lalli was looking at and bit her lips. ”We got attacked yesterday. Sigrun and Mikkel took them out and then they discussed whether or not we should relocate again. They decided to remain.” She gestured outside. ”Finding a safe spot was harder than we thought and we're probably as safe here as anywhere else.”

”I can find a safe spot.”

”Are you sure? I mean, you were pretty sick, you should probably take it easy a few more days...”

”I'll find us a safe spot”, Lalli repeated.

Tuuri looked at him, let out a sigh and turned towards Sigrun. She lit up when she heard Tuuri's news, patted Lalli's shoulder.

”Sigrun says to head out as soon as you feel ready, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind waiting an extra day...”

Lalli quickly finished his food, got up. He swayed a little when he got to his feet, but regained his posture before Tuuri could say anything.

”I'll head out now. How long do we need?”

Tuuri turned to the captain again, who answered by holding up two fingers.

”Two days.”

The Dane interrupted her optimism.

”One week”, he said slowly. ”Can you?”

”I can get us two”, Lalli answered in Finnish and went back into the bedroom, changed into his scouting uniform. Emil's chest stopped moving and Lalli held his breath. The seconds lasted forever and then the Swede started breathing again. Lalli let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the edge of Emil's bed.

”I'll be heading out. We need to find a safer place to camp. I'll be back soon. Emil...” Lalli leaned closer, lowered his voice so only Emil could hear. ”Please don't send it for me, I'll be careful...”

He got up, waved goodbye to everyone and hurried outside. The presence didn't join him.

xxxxxx

”And left by the weird tower, straight ahead until you see the iron skeleton and then right again to the lake. The lake is safe, I checked it.”

Tuuri nodded, showed the notes to Sigrun and Lalli walked into the bedroom again. Mikkel looked at him, said something in Danish, but Lalli ignored it, sank down under Tuuri's bed. The Dane grabbed him, pulled him out and placed him in the bed instead, still speaking Danish. Lalli caught the words rest and fever but wasn't sure who Mikkel was talking about. Lalli tried protesting as Mikkel wrapped a blanket tightly around him, but gave up when it didn't provide the wanted result. When the Dane left Lalli wiggled free and turned towards Emil. The Swede had regained some of his color, but in exchange he seemed to be in constant pain. Lalli got as close to Emil as he could in the bed and stretched out a hand to pet his hair.

”Are you waking up?”

Lalli's fingers touched Emil's forehead and he bit his lip. Emil was _very_ hot to touch.

”Did you not send it, or _could_ you not send it?”

Tiny difference, Lalli knew it, but for the moment it was an important difference.

”At least I can't see it now, that means you're going to be okay, right? Right?”

”nnn....”

”Emil?” Lalli tossed the blanket to the side and sank down next to Emil. ”Emil, no, don't try to wake up! You need to...”

”...nt.” Emil opened his eyes and looked at Lalli. ”Ont...”

Ont. Lalli didn't need to understand the word to know that Emil was in pain. Emil's eyes were tearing up and he closed them again, clenched his teeth. Lalli called out for Mikkel, grabbed Emil's hand under the blanket and noticed how his face scrunched up from pain again. Sigrun grabbed him, pulled him to Tuuri's bed and held him there while Mikkel went to work.

”It's my fault, I woke him up! I shouldn't have talked to him, but I wanted to show that I was back. Is he going to be okay? Did I kill him?”

”Det er ikke din skyld, Lalli. Han bliver bedre, han blev bundet til at vågne op snart.”

Lalli didn't understand the Dane and he knew the Dane couldn't have understood him, but he was still calmed by the words. He leaned against the wall, Sigrun still held an arm over his shoulders, and Lalli closed his eyes, found himself on the raft. When he woke up he found that he had been tucked in and he could feel that they were driving. He felt better again, the fever once more down to more manageable temperatures.

He tossed the blanket to the side, sat up. Emil was looking peaceful again and Lalli got out of the bed, left the room and joined Tuuri, Mikkel and Sigrun in the front of the tank. Sigrun was sleeping soundly in the backseat, snoring lightly, while Tuuri and Mikkel chatted away about something. Mikkel noticed him first.

”Your cousin, Tuuri. Jeg tror, han vil have nyheder.”

Mikkel got up, quickly examined Lalli before offering him the chair and leaving the cousins alone. Tuuri started chatting with him, telling him what he had missed while he slept and what roads they had taken. Lalli felt sicker as time went on and he leaned back, closed his eyes.

”You already asleep again?”

Lalli opened one eye, glared at her.

”Oh, you want to know about...”

Lalli nodded, straightened up in the chair.

”You don't need to worry, he's going to be fine. You should focus on getting better yourself, Mikkel says you're still feverish.”

Lalli didn't answer, just stared at her. Tuuri let out a sigh.

”A broken arm, at least a couple of broken ribs as well. Then the bitemarks and cuts... Mikkel says some have gotten infected and that they're going to leave some scars. He hasn't really been able to do a really thorough examination since Emil's pretty much been in a coma...

Lalli's eyes widened and Tuuri patted his shoulder, laughed nervously.

”It's nothing to worry about, Mikkel says he's getting better and he did wake up today so he's probably gonna be up any day soon.”

She hesitated, grabbed the wheel tighter. Lalli looked at her.

”It's just... I don't know. I wonder what's going to happen now.”

Lalli looked away. He didn't really care, he was ready to head home already. Behind him Sigrun woke up and he took the backseat instead, laid down and listened as Tuuri and Sigrun chatted away and Lalli could see the iron skeleton through the window, heard Tuuri saying something and then he drifted off to sleep.

xxxxxx

They had spent three days by the lake already. Sigrun was slowly getting impatient and had tried to send Lalli out to scout the surrounding areas for books. Mikkel kept stopping it, but with his fever finally gone Lalli wanted to do _something_. Just hanging around and worry wasn't something he was used to.

Emil had woken up a couple of times, but he was still far from well and spent almost all the time asleep. Lalli took retreat into the quiet bedroom to practise his Swedish by talking quietly to Emil, trying not to disturb his sleep. Mikkel kept a close eye on both of them while Sigrun patrolled the area and Tuuri and Reynir worked with the books and putting together a report about the Silent World. Kisu was forbidden from entering the bedroom after jumping onto Emil's chest and causing him an intense amount of pain and instead patrolled the area with Sigrun or distracted Reynir and Tuuri from their work.

Lalli watched as Emil moved uneasily in his sleep. With his return to the waking world the nightmares had followed and Lalli hated how he couldn't do anything to ease his friend's sleep. He buried his fingers in Emil's hair, whispered soft words in both Swedish and Finnish to him, but it didn't help. He saw how the bandadges over Emil's throat was getting redder and sighed, leaned his forehead against Emil's.

”This is why you should take it easy...”

He called for Mikkel, who almost immediately entered with the medic's bag ready. Lalli kept his fingers buried in Emil's hair, kept the Swede's head still as Mikkel worked on stitching his throat up again. Emil woke up when Mikkel was almost done, pain and fear visible in his eyes, and Lalli quickly moved one hand to Emil's forehead, to keep him from sitting up. Mikkel noticed the movement, started talking calmly and slow to keep the Swede from panicking.

”You pulled some of your wounds open. I have put you back together to the best of my abilities.”

Lalli felt proud about being able to understand most of what the Dane had said. He let go of Emil's head, patted his shoulder. Emil smiled at him and Lalli tried to smile back, but was too focused on what the Dane did. Mikkel bandaged up Emil's throat again, efficiently hiding the wounds he just stitched up, before unwrapping the bandage covering his chest. Lalli bit his lip when he saw the large wound going from Emil's left shoulder down over his ribs. It was stitched up poorly, a couple of the stitches having been pulled when Emil moved around. Apart from the large wound Emil's chest was covered in bruises in various shades of blue and green, as well as several smaller cuts, some of them red and swollen, and Mikkel cleaned them up before continuing to the bandage over Emil's stomach. Lalli helped Emil settle up, just enough so Mikkel could remove them with ease, but the Swede pulled a sharp breath and Lalli almost dropped him.

The wounds over the stomach was even worse than the ones one Emil's chest. Four deep, jagged wounds went over it, a couple wounds crossing those. Mikkel frowned slightly when he put a hand next to them and Lalli guessed there was something wrong with them. He buried his fingers in Emil's hair again, both for the Swede and himself. Mikkel tried smiling at them, but Lalli could tell it was forced. With help from Lalli he re-bandaged Emil's stomach and chest, let the bandage trace over Emil's collarbone to cover the wound on his chest.

After that Mikkel slowly let his hands trace along Emil's left arm, over the large bruising around his elbow, and Emil drew a sharp breath again. Mikkel didn't move to acknowledge it, let his hands trace over Emil's right arm instead, taking extra care when he reached the hand and Emil closed his eyes and bit his lip. Mikkel still didn't speak, investigated Emil's left and right leg instead. When he bent Emil's right knee the Swede opened his eyes again, let out a cry and almost sat up to get the Dane to keep his hands off him. Lalli moved quickly to hold him down.

”...I'll get you some painkillers, then I'l take a closer look at your knee and arm. Can you stay awake long enough for that?”

Emil nodded slightly and Mikkel left the room, came back inside a minute later with a cup. He carefully helped the Swede sit up, made sure he drank all of it and then helped him back down again.

”It will take about twenty minutes for it to start working, I will be back then.”

Emil nodded again and Mikkel left the room. With the Dane gone Emil patted the bed, closed his eyes as his arm moved.

”Sit... here...”

Lalli hesitated, but sank down on the edge of the bed. Emil smiled again.

”I can... see you better.... this way...”

”You should take it easy, you're still...”

”I know...” Emil interrupted. ”Your Swedish...”

Emil talked slowly and Lalli could tell it was painful for him. He looked away, looked at his knees.

”I've had lots of time to practice.”

”Talk to me.”

Lalli hesitated again, not really knowing what to say. Emil closed his eyes again, took a shaky breath.

”I'll fall asleep otherwise... Just talk...”

Emil was drifting off, Lalli could tell. So he started talking. Slowly at first, going through what little vocabulary he felt familiar with by now. Emil seemed to listen, sometimes smiling, sometimes asking something. Soon Lalli abandoned Swedish and started talking Finnish instead, knowing fully well the other couldn't understand. He still seemed to listen to Lalli's words.

Mikkel arrived again a bit later than he had promised and Lalli left the bed, sat down on Tuuri's instead. Mikkel asked Emil some questions while pressing the elbow. Lalli couldn't understand the questions, the Dane was talking a little bit too fast for Lalli to be able to grasp it, but Emil nodded or shook his head slightly to answer them. When Mikkel tried to bend the elbow Emil let out a scream and Lalli had to sit on his hands to keep him from throwing the Dane out. Mikkel continued to Emil's right leg, repeated the procedure, before pressing around his ribcage and his right hand. Everything resulted in pained expressions dancing over Emil's face and every painful sound or gesture coming from his friend activated Lalli's need to protect him and he had to summon up every piece of self-restraint he had to let Mikkel continue his work.

When the examination was done Mikkel bandaged up Emil's right hand, placed a plank on both sides of Emil's right leg, carefully bent Emil's knee before securing the leg in place with the planks. He placed another plank next to Emil's left arm, tied it in place, before finally pulling back. When Mikkel pulled back Lalli released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

”Do you two want to hear the verdict?”

Lalli didn't understand the last word, but still got the question, and nodded. Emil took a bit longer, breathed heavily while trying to regain his composure, then he nodded as well.

”Your left elbow is broken, ligaments have been torn both in the elbow and your knee. It seems some of the bones in your hand have been damaged as well and as far as I can tell you have three broken ribs. Apart from your arm most of it is pretty clean and should heal without compl...” Mikkel paused, reconsidered his choice of words. ”Without any problems.”

Lalli knew Mikkel used as simple words as possible so he would be able to understand as well and he was thankful for it, even though he couldn't understand the word ”ligaments” and the rest of the words re-awoke his worry.

”You've got some deep wounds over your stomach, but luckily enough nothing inside seem to have been damaged. There's also some wounds on your legs and chest, but not as bad. The bite to your throat went through your _Arteria carotis communis_ but...” Mikkel stopped, noticed the confused looks he was getting. ”...the vein that supplies your head with blood. It's healing well, but you need to stop pulling it open...”

”I'll... try...” Emil closed his eyes again. ”I'm going to... sleep now...”

Mikkel patted his shoulder.

”You do that. Lalli is watching over you.”

Emil nodded and Mikkel left the bedroom. Lalli sat down on the edge of Emil's bed again, listened as Emil's breathing relaxed and the other fell asleep.

xxxxxx

”Oy, twig, up for some scouting?”

Lalli looked at his captain, looked towards the bedroom and then nodded.

”Great! We're getting low on food, so scout for tracks and stuff.”

Lalli nodded again. Sigrun looked towards the ceiling.

”Don't need to hunt anything, we'll do that tomorrow. So, don't stay out for too long, because you need to get some sleep. Can't trust big guy there to hunt!”

”I heard that, Sigrun!” Mikkel called for the bedroom.

”Don't get mad at the truth! You aim worse than my grampa and he's blind!”

Lalli ignored the two off them as they started bickering and went to the bedroom door. He leaned against the doorframe and looked at Emil, who noticed him and lifted his right hand in greeting. Lalli returned the gesture.

”How are you?” Emil asked.

Lalli frowned. Emil's voice was still weak, and he was still tied to the bed, and yet his main concern was _Lalli's_ health.

”Good. Scouting tonight.”

”I heard. Be careful out there.”

Lalli nodded, forced himself to smile.

”Don't worry.”

Mikkel patted Emil's shoulder, said something in Danish that Lalli couldn't understand and then left the bedroom. Lalli continued looking at Emil. He had asked Onni more about fylgjas, but the older man had been unable to provide him with answers. Lalli had even asked the stupid foreign mage, but he was about as helpful as a pile of bricks. In desperation Lalli had even asked Sigrun and Mikkel, with the older man quickly dismissing it as nonsense. Sigrun had told him quite a bit, but all in very quick Norwegian so Lalli hadn't been able to catch much of it, except for one tiny detail.

Emil wasn't supposed to be able to send it away.

It was certainly not supposed to be able to transfer energy either, even luontos couldn't do that. Lalli left the doorframe and sank down on Emil's bed.

”Lalli? You look worried.”

Lalli bit his lip and clenched his hands.

”Lalli?”

” _Please_ don't worry.”

”I... can't really help it.”

”Don't send it for me tonight.”

”I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about...”

”Just... worry about yourself instead, okay?”

Emil smiled. Something in the smile told Lalli that Emil wanted to comfort him, pat his shoulder or anything to get Lalli to stop worrying. Lalli frowned, but didn't say anything. Instead he got up, changed into his scouting uniform. He nodded towards Sigrun and then left the tank. He crossed the open area around the tank and ran into the woods, his feet instinctively following trails not meant for humans. As he ran he listened to the sounds of the night, let his eyes wander in the search of tracks. He found the first ones after half an hour. Rabbits. He would see if he could find something else as well.

After one hour he started relaxing. The presence hadn't joined him and he sent a quiet thanks to the gods. Two hours of scouting and he was starting to feel tired. Two and a half hour after starting he felt something following him. He could barely make it out and only by really straining his senses he could spot it.

”Hitto!”

Lalli looked into the forest infront of him. He had already found tracks of rabbits and deers but he really wanted to scout the area some more. With a sigh he decided to turn back around, for Emil's sake. The presence followed him closely.

He told Tuuri what he had found while Mikkel decontaminated him and Tuuri translated for Sigrun. He could hear the Norwegian starting making up plans for the next day, but turned his back towards them and headed to the bedroom. Emil had gotten slightly paler again. Lalli pulled his fingers through Emil's hair, felt how the presence disappeared and kicked Reynir in the side.

”I need to talk to you.”

Reynir yawned, looked at Lalli, but Lalli didn't say anything more, only sank down under Emil's bed and fell asleep. He didn't now how long he had waited until Reynir finally arrived. Lalli hesitated for a moment, then invited Reynir to sit down on his raft.

”...I need you to teach Emil.”

”Aha... what? I can't do that, I don't know anything about anything.”

”There's no one else that can either”, Lalli looked at his feet, swallowed. ”I only have you to ask. Please, at least _try_.”

”But, I don't... know how.”

Reynir looked into the forest, looked at his hands, looked at Lalli and Lalli followed his movements out of the corner of his eye. Reynir pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them, looking at the Finn.

”I didn't know he was a mage.”

”He's not.”

Lalli's eyes followed a fish that swam past the raft.

”He's not... supposed to be.”

He turned to Reynir, looked away, then looked at Reynir again.

”I don't like admitting it, but I have _no idea_ what's going on and currently you're my only chance of helping him. He's under the protection of _your_ gods, not mine.”

Reynir turned his head, looked in the other direction. Lalli lifted a hand, hesitated, then put it on Reynir's upper arm.

”Try to find him and tell him about fylgjas.”

”You should come along!”

”I can't!” Lalli got up, almost caused the raft to tip over. ”I can't pass through the sanctuaries like you can! If I could I'd... I'd have already done it.”

Reynir looked at him, his eyes wide, and nodded. Lalli sat down again, waited while the water calmed down after his outburst. Reynir got up, jumped off the raft and looked at Lalli once more.

”I'll tell him what I know.”

”Get him to stop sending it. It will kill him otherwise.”

Worry danced over Reynir's face, but he bit his lip, nodded and then left. Lalli laid down on the raft again, looked at the sky. His eyes were tearing up and he dried the tears.

”Don't die, Emil.”

xxxxxx

The presence didn't join Lalli while he and Sigrun were out hunting. It didn't appear during the night when he went scouting either. Nor the night after that. Lalli started relaxing, spent the days practicing his Swedish while Tuuri tried to get news about when they could be picked up.

They started going to places to pick up books again. With Emil unable to help they focused on houses in the rural areas, so that there would be a lower risk to run into anything. Most of the time Mikkel and Sigrun went out to get the books, leaving Lalli to protect Tuuri, Reynir and Emil. During the nights Lalli scouted the safest routes to their next destination. It continued smoothly for about one and a half week after leaving the lake, but then Sigrun wanted Lalli to come along instead.

”Are you certain that is wise, Sigrun?”

Sigrun dismissed Mikkel's worry with a wave of her hand.

”This place is safe, I'm pretty sure you won't get attacked by a troll so even you should be able to hold the fort.”

Lalli looked between them. No trolls, he had reported that. He had also reported about tracks from a pack of beasts. He knew why Sigrun would rather bring him this time. It was safer.

”I'll come”, he said.

His superiors stopped arguing with each other and Sigrun moved to pat his back, but thought better of it and opened the door instead.

”Great! We're leaving after breakfast!”

Lalli ate together with Emil. He watched as the Swede struggled with it, but didn't offer any help. He had tried before, only to learn that his friend had a bit too much pride. Emil drew a sharp breath and put the bowl down.

”I wasn't hungry anyway.”

Lalli didn't answer. He watched as Emil struggled to get back down again, struggled to find a more comfortable sitting position and then had to abandon that as well. Emil let out a sigh and looked at Lalli, who prepared to get up and assist him.

”Is it okay for you to follow Sigrun?”

Lalli sat down again and nodded. Emil tried to lay down again, but had to abandon it once more.

”Are you sure it's safe?”

Lalli nodded again, his gaze glued to the bowl in his hand.

”But you spent the whole night scouting, don't you need to rest?”

Lalli's eyes narrowed.

”It'll be fine.”

He looked at Emil. Emil made a new attempt with the breakfast, but as he grabbed the bowl his face scrunched up and he let it go again, getting hot soup over his legs and the bed. Emil bit his lip and Lalli got up from the floor, picked the bowl up.

”There's nothing wrong with asking for help.”

He said it in Finnish, part of him hoping Emil wouldn't understand it, but the Swede blushed. Lalli patted his head before calling for Mikkel and the older man shook his head when he saw what had happened, causing Emil's blush to deepen.

”We'll be leaving now”, Lalli said and picked up his own bowl before turning to Emil again. ”Don't worry, we're gonna be fine.”

Emil waved after him and Lalli joined Sigrun, who was already ready to head off. He said goodbye to Tuuri before joining his captain. He and Sigrun were about to leave when Reynir stopped them.

”Ah... uhm... Be careful. Here!”

Reynir gave both of them a paper and Lalli nodded, put it in his pocket without looking at it and started walking. He heard Sigrun saying something to Reynir before catching up to him. They walked in silence and Lalli started feeling nervous. He hadn't given it much thought in the tank, but Emil _had_ seemed a bit more worried than normal. And then Reynir... Did they know something he didn't? Prophetic dreams wasn't unusual amongst foreign mages, Onni had told him that. Maybe he should have asked more before leaving.

Sigrun patted his back and he looked at her, noticed her pointing at something ahead of them. A building and Lalli nodded, which caused Sigrun to hurry her steps. Lalli followed her, his eyes scanning their surroundings.

”Tuuri hasn't told them.”

Sigrun gave him a confused glance and Lalli blushed.

”About Emil. She hasn't told them what happened. Neither has Mikkel. Why?”

”You still worried? He's gonna be fine.”

”I know”, Lalli frowned. ”But we tell them much, why not that?”

Sigrun shrugged.

”It's not like they can do anything. I guess they figure they're already worrying enough. Cheer up, Lalli, Emil's gonna be fine and then the two of you can, I dunno, run in the forest or whatever you wanna do.”

”But...” Lalli waited while Sigrun battled the door. ”Maybe they hurry if they know?”

”Hm?” The door fell over with a thump, but didn't seem to disturb anything. ”Oh, the boat. It's the Icelanders, they don't care. Maybe if it had been farm-boy.”

They walked together into the house, investigated it side by side. Sigrun didn't worry, Lalli could tell. At least not about what they were doing. Lalli relaxed a little again. He had let Emil's and Reynir's worry effect him, which was highly unprofessional. He had scouted this place just a few hours ago and it was perfectly safe.

They found a bookcase in one of the rooms and started filling the bags they had brought along. Sigrun didn't say much while they worked and at first Lalli thought the odd behavior of the captain simply was a sign that she had started respecting the workconditions Lalli prefered, but after a while he started noticing how she stopped and tensed up. Only for a second at most, but when Lalli had finally noticed it he couldn't _stop_ noticing it. He watched as she turned her head ever so slightly, watched as her shoulders tensed up, and then relaxed again. He saw her gaze wandering to the ceiling, to the floor, to the door.

Lalli nodded towards her, then left the room. He searched the bottom floor, followed the stairs to the second floor, but most of it had been buried under the roof and he went back down. When he reached the end of the stairs his eyes fell on a bureau next to the stairs. It made a screeching noise as he moved it. Hidden behind it was a small door and Lalli hesitated, put an ear against the door.

Silence. Lalli shivered, turned his back to the door.

His foot slipped on something, he almost fell over, but something broke through the door, grabbed around his chest and pulled him into the basement. Lalli called for Sigrun, and then he was under water. Dirty liquid made its way into his mouth and he coughed, tried to get to the surface but was held down by the living hawser. Air, he needed air. He opened his mouth again, unable to resist the impulse. Water rushed in, found the way to his lungs. Then he was released. He broke the surface, took a deep breath, coughed and started swimming towards the stairs, chanting quietly in Finnish. The thing grabbed him again, pulled him back down, and his head hit the step. Lalli blacked out, but awoke again only a couple seconds later, finding himself surrounded by water.

Lalli reached for his knife, thrusted it into whatever was holding him. It pulled away, Lalli lost the grip of his puukko, but broke the surface and was once again pulled under. He could see something big on the floor, but darkness was closing in on him.

He felt something warm pass him, could feel something warm pulling at his collar. He could make out the vague shape of a weird moose swimming towards the sjødraug, felt paws at his back when they tried to get him free. The sjødraug released him and he was pulled to the surface, dragged to the stairs. He almost saw a dog getting ready to jump into the water, but it disappeared before it was able to. Lalli breathed heavily, coughed, and listened to the sounds of trashing coming from the water. He couldn't get the air to fill his lungs, couldn't move to get away from the water, and he closed his eyes, waited for the sjødraug to pull him down again.

”Hang on!”

Strong arms picked him up, carried him up the stairs. Lalli opened his eyes, closed them, but the voice spoke again.

”Stay awake.”

He just wanted to sleep. His head was pounding, his chest burning and his leg was throbbing. He forced his eyes open.

Wait.

The weird moose.

Lalli sat up, ignored the pain surging through his body. His hands grabbed Sigrun, pulled at her to get her attention.

”Emil.”

His voice was hoarse and it hurt to use it. Sigrun looked confused.

”Fylgja, tank...”

Lalli almost felt as confused as Sigrun looked. He took a shaky breath, sounds from the battle downstairs filled the silence.

”Emil's fylgja”, Lalli pointed down the stairs. ”Fighting.”

”You're joking, right? Fylgjas can't do that.”

Lalli fell to his back again, the sounds of the battle dying. The pony came through the door and Lalli's eyes teared up when he saw it. It fell down next to him, its muzzle resting against Lalli's arm and he felt energy returning, his eyes tearing up even more. Sigrun stared at him, confused, but he didn't care, buried his fingers in the spirit's mane.

”I told you... not to send it...”

”Okay, I don't know what's going on, but we're getting out. Now.”

Sigrun pulled Lalli to his feet, he almost fell over again, but she pulled him to her back, held on to him. Lalli closed his eyes when the fylgja disappeared.

”Hann er að deyja. He's dying”, Lalli whispered.

Sigrun stopped by the room with the books, picked up the filled bags and left the building. Lalli leaned his head against her shoulder and let the darkness take him.


	3. A new goal

Lalli pressed his hands against his ears. Someone was shouting and he did not enjoy waking up to so much noise. When the noise was shut out he started becoming more aware of his surroundings. Once again he was lying in Tuuri's bed, a blanket wrapped around him and his leg propped up on something. He turned his head, the door was closed and the light was out, but he could still make out the form of Emil in the other bed and Reynir on the floor. Reynir moved a little, sat up and yawned before looking at Lalli. Lalli took his hands off his ears again.

”Oh, you're back!”

Lalli frowned, he still had trouble understanding Reynir's Norwegian.

”I'm glad you're alright. I blacked out pretty early, could you... tell me what happened?”

Lalli's frown deepened.

”A sjødraug. Emil went... Emil's fylgja went head to head with it and yours pulled me out of the water. How did you send it?”

Lalli spoke quietly and was glad that Reynir had enough sense to do the same since Lalli's head was pounding pretty heavily. Reynir looked at the ceiling.

”A bit of cheating and some assistance from the Gods. Anyway”, Reynir turned towards Emil and reached out a hand to shake him awake. ”Oi, Lalli's back and awake.”

Emil didn't move. Lalli sat up, ignored the pain in his body, looked at his friend. In the corner of his eye he could see Reynir get up, could see him turn on the lights. Lalli blinked against the sharp light, then turned towards Emil again. The Swede was pale, his breathing uneven, shallow. He pulled his fingers through Emil's hair, let them trace over his forehead, his cheek. Emil was cold. Lalli turned towards Reynir, noticed the worried look on the Icelander's face.

”Mikkel”, Lalli's voice was shaking. ”Get Mikkel.”

Reynir nodded, turned around. He wobbled as he walked, but he managed to get the door opened. Sigrun's voice cut through the tank again.

”We have  _three_ people who need medical aid, just get them to send a boat!”

She continued shouting to the radio and Lalli put his hands over his ears to block the noise out again. Mikkel came inside, gestured towards the mattress and said something to Reynir, Lalli couldn't hear it through his hands, and Reynir laid back down, fell asleep. Mikkel closed the door before coming up to Lalli and Lalli took the hands off his ears.

”Emil...” Lalli started.

Mikkel pressed him down into the bed again.

”He is sleeping. How are you feeling? Any pain? Tired?”

Lalli shook his head and Mikkel put his hands to his sided, looked at Lalli and Lalli blushed, looked away.

”Some. A little.”

”Sigrun told me there was a sjødraug, do you want to tell me what happened?”

Mikkel's hands traced over Lalli, examined him, and Lalli looked at Emil before he started talking.

”It hid in the downfloor. I didn't feel it until it pulled me down. I didn't have time to hurt it, but they...”

Lalli fell quiet. Mikkel looked at him, followed Lalli's gaze to the two sleeping men in the room.

”Reynir only needs some rest. His excitement about the Silent World caused him to develop a fever, but it's not very high and he should be up and running again tomorrow.”

Lalli knew there was more to the story, but knew of the Dane's unwillingness to admit the gods and didn't say anything about the fylgjas. He looked at Emil.

”And... Emil?”

”He had a nightmare while you were gone. Trashed around in his sleep and pulled open the wounds on his stomach again. I thought they had healed better but...”

Mikkel also looked at Emil, laid a hand on his forehead and frowned a little.

”He's going to be fine.”

Lalli's eyes narrowed.

”Don't lie. He's dying, isn't he?”

Mikkel hesitated, looked at the door and then turned to Lalli again.

”If we can't get a boat here, then his chance of surviving to spring is small, at best... And even if it does come... I can not say for certain if he will make it.” Mikkel wrapped the blanket around Lalli again. ”As for you, your head got a pretty good hit and you should take care to rest. Also...” Mikkel smiled slyly. ”Your right leg is broken. Tried matching Emil, did you?”

Lalli frowned, looked at the Dane.

”Was that a... joke?”

Lalli didn't know the Swedish word for joke and the Dane looked confused by the Finnish. He shook his head and continued talking.

”Some bruising on your torso, but nothing worse than that. Try to get some more sleep.”

Sigrun's voice cut through the door again, apparently she didn't agree to what was being said on the other end, and Mikkel smiled.

”She is trying to convince them to send a boat.”

Lalli nodded, looked at Emil onces more and then closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was on the raft.

”There you are!”

Lalli quickly settled up on the call, noticed Reynir next to one of the trees.

”What are  _you_ doing here?” he hissed.

A familiar voice next to Lalli caused the Finn to turn around. Onni.

”I asked him. He sent a call to me earlier, I think I made it just in time.”

”I didn't even know I could call for him.”

”You did before, with the ghosts.”

”Oh, was that me?”

Onni ignored the Icelander and turned to his cousin again instead.

”How are you feeling? Are you hurt?”

Lalli opened his mouth, closed it again and nodded. Onni crossed his arms over his chest, opened his mouth to talk, but decided against it. Instead he let out a sigh.

”I'm glad you're alive, Lalli.”

Lalli nodded, looked at Reynir. He noticed that the other man was a bit pale as well and seemed to be out of breath even though he was just standing still. Lalli carefully moved a little, clenched his teeth against the pain in his leg and patted the raft. Reynir looked at him, gestured towards himself and when Lalli nodded the other lit up and boared the raft, taking care not to make it fall over. Reynir leaned his back against Onni and the older man flinched slightly, but didn't say anything.

”I didn't see you”, Lalli said after a while, his eyes locked on Onni.

Onni met his eyes, looked at the sky.

”You were probably already out when I arrived. I tried assisting your friend's fylgja, but I think I was too late to save it. How is he?”

”...dying.”

Lalli looked at his hands. Onni reached out a hand to pat his shoulder, but let it fall down into his lap again.

”Don't lose hope, it won't help him.”

Onni poked Reynir's side.

”We should let Lalli rest. Will you go back to your sanctuary or come along to mine? You're probably safer at my place.”

Lalli noticed a small blush on Reynir's face as Onni helped him up. Reynir nodded and the two of them said good bye to Lalli, left his safe area. He laid down on the raft again, closed his eyes and started dreaming.

xxxxxx

The tank was moving when Lalli woke up. He saw Reynir sitting in a chair next to him, but turned towards Emil. Lalli looked at Emil as well. The Swede's lips had turned purple and Lalli made a move to sit up, but Reynir's hands quickly pressed against his shoulder to hold him down.

”Mikkel says you shouldn't move.”

Lalli looked at the Icelander instead. He was less pale and seemed to feel better and Lalli looked away.

”Thanks... for saving me...”

Lalli blushed and Reynir patted his shoulder.

”It's Emil you should thank, he showed me how to do it and convinced me we needed to.”

”Is he...”

Reynir shook his head.

”Still asleep. Both here and in the dreamworld. Onni is keeping an eye on him.”

Lalli frowned. Reynir seemed to understand his distress.

”He's not enjoying it, but he's doing it for you. I've been checking in every other hour to see how they're doing.”

Lalli closed his eyes. Reynir's Norwegian was getting too much for him and his head had started pounding. There was however still a couple questions he wanted answered.

”Where are we going?”

”The coast. No boat yet, but Sigrun decided we might as well go there.”

”...How long was I asleep?”

”About a day, I think. I've kinda lost track of time myself.”

The door opened up and Mikkel peeked inside, looked sternly at the two younger men.

”You should be resting.”

He came inside. Lalli tried looking through the front window, but Mikkel closed the door again. He placed a hand on Reynir's forehead and smiled slightly.

”Your fever has gone down. Still, you need to take it easy. What are you doing up?”

”I...” Reynir blushed. ”I wanted to keep an eye on Emil. For Lalli's sake.”

”You getting worse will not help him, but as long as you do not overexert yourself it should be fine.”

He made his way past Reynir and stopped by Lalli instead.

”How are you feeling?”

”Headache.”

”Do you want some painkillers?”

Lalli shook his head and closed his eyes.

”Just make Emil better.”

”I will try.”

Lalli listened as Mikkel moved around in the room, heard the door slide shut behind him as he left. He heard Reynir lay down on the floor and listened to the uneven breathing from Emil and the tank's engine. He knew he drifted off because the next thing he noticed was that they had stopped. Where they already at the coast? Lalli turned towards Reynir for answers but the Icelander was asleep.

Gunshots. Lalli sat up in the bed, listened closely. He hadn't noticed anything in the dreamworld, but he hadn't kept an eye open for beasts or trolls approaching. He carefully moved his legs over the bed, clenched his teeth as pain surged through him from his broken bone. When the worst pain had subsided he grabbed his rifle, and moved towards the door, careful not to put any weight on his damaged leg.

”Get Emil's gun!”

”I'm not a marksman, I might hit you!”

”I can't fend them off myself!”

The door opened just as Lalli got to it and Mikkel blinked, looked at him.

”You should not be up.”

Lalli showed his rifle, glared at the Dane and Mikkel looked back towards Sigrun, then stepped out of the way. Lalli supported himself against the wall, made his way to the opened door. He told Tuuri to take cover in the bedroom, then leaned against the doorframe and put the rifle to his shoulder before looking at the battlefield.

There was more beasts than he could count, a lot more than he had noticed in the town. If they had followed from there they must have picked up help on the way. In the middle was Sigrun, his captain, steadily moving them down one after another, but for each beast she shot down two new approached. Lalli also noticed how some of the beasts was pressing themselves against what seemed to be an invisible wall. He didn't give himself any time to ponder over it but was certain Reynir had with it to do. Instead Lalli took aim at one of the larger beasts approaching Sigrun, fired off a single bullet and watched it fall dead. Some of the beasts turned in his direction and he cursed. This was why he prefered to use the knife instead of the rifle.

Mikkel came back outside of the bedroom and carefully past Lalli in the door. He was packed with explosives and a gun and hurried to Sigrun's side, to offer what little aid he could. Lalli fired off some more shots. The field was slowly filling up with bodies of the beasts and Lalli smiled slightly at the thought of how much Emil would dislike this. Then he frowned. He wouldn't be able to prepare all these bodies and send all of the souls to Tuonela.

As the battle raged on more and more beasts arrived, lured there by the gunfire. More and more beasts managed to press themselves through the invisible wall. For every second they got closer and closer to Sigrun and Mikkel. Lalli closed his eyes, started chanting in Finnish. He wasn't strong enough, but it was his only option. The wind picked up around him as he called out for his luonto to help him.

Red paws the others couldn't see swept over the battlefield. It took down a bunch of beasts before Lalli called it back. It wouldn't do any good if he fainted in the middle of a battle. With the beasts pushed back Sigrun regained some of her ferocity, but then...

Trees fell down in the forest next to them. Mikkel and Sigrun stared towards the forest, backed towards the tank. Lalli took down some more beasts with his rifle, but then he was out of ammo. His hands fell to his sides, reached for the knife that wasn't there, but Mikkel's hands grabbed him, lifted him back into the tank. He heard Sigrun closing the door and Mikkel opened the bedroom door, placed him on the bed again.

”Stay here.”

Mikkel went back outside and Lalli looked at the door, looked at Tuuri who was shaking Reynir's shoulder, looked at Reynir who was getting paler and paler every second. He heard Sigrun's and Mikkel's muffled voices through the door but couldn't make out what they were saying. He looked at Tuuri again, noticed her looking back at him.

”...Can't we just drive away?”

”We tried”, Tuuri looked worried, ”but one of the beasts jumped onto the hood of the tank and damaged the enginge... Lalli, why... why isn't Reynir waking up?”

Lalli bit his lip, looked away.

”He's holding them at bay. He put up a shield to slow the beasts down. We'd have been dead already, but...”

Lalli looked at the door, didn't finish the sentence. Tuuri continued trying to wake Reynir up and Lalli carefully got up again, moved to the door and pressed an ear against it. Mikkel and Sigrun were quiet, but he heard beasts scratching at the tank, felt the ground shake as whatever was in the forest got closer. Tuuri came up to him, tried pulling him back to the bed, but when she couldn't get him to move she wrapped an arm around his waist to support him.

Fighting broke out. Lalli listened to the sounds, tried to make out what was going on and who was getting its ass kicked. The tank shook as bodies were thrown into it.

Silence. Tuuri's grip around Lalli hardened. Something large hit the side of the tank and Lalli lost balance, put his weight on his bad leg. Tuuri slapped a hand over his mouth to stop the scream and Lalli hated the touch, but was still grateful. He sank down on the floor, his cousin beside him, and he put his ear to the door again. The tank shook again, and again, and again. Lalli heard a thump behind him and turned around.

”Emil!”

He tried to move to his friend, but the roof started creeking and he stopped, looked up. Tuuri hugged his arm and he could see the question in her eyes and shook his head. He didn't know. He watched as the roof started budging inwards, slowly crawled over the floor to grab Emil's knife. He looked worriedly at Emil, saw the bandages around him getting red and turned his eyes to the roof again as he sat down next to Tuuri's bed. He saw Tuuri moving around in the corner of his eye, saw her shoving Emil under the bed, heard her dragging Reynir under the other. She sat down next to him and he saw her hands shaking.

They waited in silence as the thing moved over the roof. The roof got lower and lower as the thing placed more and more weight on it. A thump echoed from the outside as the last part of it fell off the tank. Lalli heard it scratching on the side, felt it try to tip the tank over. He placed his free hand over Tuuri's mouth incase she needed to scream and she returned the gesture.

It stopped. Lalli took a tighter grip around the knife and then something large threw itself into the side. The tank tipped, Lalli slid into the wall, Tuuri landed over him and he bit his lip as his broken leg got disturbed. Reynir crashed into the wall behind them and almost got the two Hotakainens over himself when he did so. Lalli saw him blinking, quickly placed a hand over the Icelander's mouth and gestured for him to be quiet. Reynid nodded, closed his eyes again and Lalli let go of him. The tank fell to the ground again, Lalli could tell something broke under it. He waited, got ready to throw his cousin behind him to protect her. A scuffing sound reached his ears, as if something large was dragging itself over the ground. He noticed the sound getting fainter and fainter, but still didn't move, didn't let himself relax. It felt like an eternity had passed when the door opened and Mikkel and Sigrun came inside.

”What was that?” Tuuri asked.

”A giant”, Sigrun answered as Mikkel started taking care of the injured. ”Almost thought the tank would collapse under it.”

She looked at the ceiling, which was at least ten centimeters lower than it had been before and Lalli thought she looked a bit pale, thought he saw blood in her hair. She sat down on Tuuri's bed just as Mikkel lifted Emil from the floor. Mikkel frowned slightly as he placed the Swede back in his bed and Lalli watched the two of them, saw Mikkel putting most of his weight on his right leg, as if something was wrong with the other.

”How's he doing, big guy?”

”Well...” Mikkel hesitated. ”Hopefully the boat's already on its way...”

Lalli watched as Mikkel started working on Emil, tried to pull himself closer, but was unable to. Mikkel unwrapped the bandages covering Emil, let the bloody wraps fall to the floor as he started cleaning the younger man up.

”How are you feeling, Lalli?”

”...fine.”

”Mhm”, Mikkel pulled a needle and some thread out of his bag in order to stitch Emil up. ”Any pain?”

Lalli nodded, watched as the needle made its way through Emil's skin and noticd that the Swede didn't react. He just looked... peaceful.

”Tuuri, Sigrun, could you help Lalli to the bed?”

Both women got up, helped Lalli to his feet and gently laid him down in the bed. Tuuri carefully lifted his leg and placed a couple of folded blankets under it.

”You should also rest, Sigrun. Try not to fall asleep until I've examined you.”

Sigrun climbed into the bed above Lalli and Tuuri pulled Reynir out from under the bed, placed him next to the fireplace and wrapped a blanket around him. Mikkel spoke again and Lalli noticed thankfully that the Dane spoke slow and clear so he would be able to understand as well.

”Tuuri, be a dear and check out the damages and see if you can fix them, we need to get moving as soon as possible. But be careful, there might still be some live beasts out there. Do you have a weapon?”

Tuuri leaned down, nodded as she got up again, and Lalli saw Emil's knife sparkle in her hand. Mikkel nodded towards her and she left the room. Mikkel continued talking with Lalli and Sigrun while he worked with containing what little life was left in Emil, but as the adrenaline from the attack left his bloodflow and the pain in his leg got stronger, Lalli found it hard to focus on the other's words.

”I can not do much more now. Lalli, can you hold out a little longer? I am just going to...”

The rest of Mikkel's sentence was gibberish, but Lalli nodded. He tried keeping up with Sigrun and Mikkel's conversation just to have something to focus on, but the pain in his leg fogged up his mind and he couldn't understand them. Then Mikkel's hands traced his leg. Lalli bit his cheek to contain the scream, especially since Mikkel had said there might still be beasts out there. Lalli didn't want to lure them to the tank again. Mikkel continued working, carefully pulled up the leg of Lalli's pants. Whatever he saw made him frown, and he said something Lalli couldn't understand. The Finn shook his head and Mikkel patted his shoulder, said something else and left the room. With the medic gone Lalli sat up to see what he might have been talking about. When his eyes fell on his leg he drew a sharp breath.

Lalli's leg was covered in blood, he could see the bone sticking out through the shin. He tried moving it, but a sharp jolt of pain shot through it and he let out a scream, then slapped his hands over his mouth. Sigrun peeked down from the bed above, said something Lalli couldn't understand and he shook his head. She looked at him, took a deep breath.

”Sleep”, she said, slow and clear.

Lalli could hear her patting her pillow and smiled slightly, looked towards Emil and then laid down again. Mikkel came back inside, offered him a cup with some weird, smelly liquid inside and gently lifted his head just a little so Lalli could drink it. It tasted like wet dog covered in apples and Lalli wrinkled his nose, but swallowed all of it. Mikkel nodded, said something in Danish before putting a blanket over Lalli and kneeling next to Reynir. Lalli tried to see what he was doing, but the pain in his leg was slowly subsiding and after fifteen minutes he was asleep.

xxxxxx

The tank was moving again when Lalli woke up. He laid still for a few minutes, tried to figure out where they were going by the movements of the vehicle, but was unable to. He sat up, looked at his leg again. It was wrapped up, tied to a pair of planks to keep it from moving. Lalli frowned, that would not make it easier to move around.

”Mikkel says you're supposed to stay still.”

Sigrun's voice. Lalli turned his head left and saw her head peeking down on him from above.

”...We're moving.”

”Well yeah, they got it working again.”

Lalli looked at the door, then back at Sigrun again, knowing fully well she wanted to be where the action was.

”Why are you in here?”

”Hm? Oh”, she knocked herself on the head. ”Hjernerystelse. Hit my head pretty bad when the giant flopped into the tank. Nothing to worry about.”

”And...?” Lalli looked at Reynir and Emil. Sigrun didn't answer at first and Lalli saw her turning towards Emil in the corner of his eye.

”Mikkel says he's in critical condition...”

Her voice was low, serious for once, and Lalli looked at her, but didn't ask. She turned away, went back up in the bed.

”He doesn't know what's wrong with Reynir, he seems to just be sleeping.”

Sigrun let out a sigh.

”This is all my fault...”

Her voice was low, barely audible, and Lalli knew she hadn't meant for him to hear. He didn't answer, laid back down again. The door opened as his head reached the pillow and Mikkel peeked inside.

”You're supposed to rest.”

”We are”, Sigruns voice answered. ”Look, we're lying down and everything. We're resting  _so hard_ Natt would be jealous!”

”Mhm. You know what, I am not jumping into this discussion again. You can run around in here for all I care.”

She sat up.

”I can?”

”No, get back to resting.”

Lalli sat up again.

”How's Tuuri?”

”She's fine, probably the only one of us who got out of the attack unharmed.” Mikkel turned towards Reynir. ”I just wish I knew what's wrong with him...”

”Magic exhaustion”, Lalli answered.

”There is no such thing as magic”, Mikkel smirked. ”Anyway, the two of you should keep resting. We are almost by the coast, but we have not yet heard anything about the boat.”

”Does that mean... Emil will... He will...”

Mikkel stepped up to Lalli's bed, the Finn noticed he limped slightly.

”Lalli”, Mikkel started and pushed him down, pulled the blanket over him, ”he has not died yet, it is still possible that he will survive this. And when he wakes up his main concern will most likely be your health, so...” He patted Lalli's head. ”...you shoud take care of yourself for now. Okay?”

”Pff, you're treating him like a five-year old.”

”It will not help anyone if he worried himself to death.”

”No, but he can handle the truth. Lalli...”

Lalli winced slightly at Sigrun's use of his real name.

”He's dying pretty bad there. Big guy did what he could, but Emil's survival is in the gods' hands now. And the Icelanders' I guess. How much time did you say, Mikkel?”

Mikkel looked away from Sigrun and Lalli.

”Four days, but there are a lot of factors that could influence it, both for the better and worse. I am not a doctor, at best I can give an guesstimate.”

Sigrun peeked down from the bed again, looked at Lalli.

”I'm sorry, Lalli. I thought it was best if you knew.”

Lalli nodded, tried to speak, but his throat felt unusually thick, his mind felt heavy.

”Mikkel, captain's order. Get on the radio and bust their asses about that boat.”

Mikkel nodded, went outside again. Lalli listened as he tried contacting the headquarters, but his voice was fading, the bed behind him faded and Lalli felt wood underneath his back, listened to the water for a while before opening his eyes. His sanctuary was silent, calm, and he sat up, flinched at the pain in his leg, but forced himself up anyway. His dreamworld-self was just a representation of his waken body, his leg wasn't  _really_ broken in here. It still throbbed hard, and he blinked a couple times to stop his eyes from tearing up.

He waded through the swamp, stopped by the barrier. Hesitated for a moment. Heading out into the magespace was probably not the smartest thing he could do. Even if his leg was actually fine in here he still felt the pain and if something happened it could distract him during a critical moment. He opened his mouth, took a shaky breath and tore a hole in the barrier before stepping out. Lots of things moved around out there, restless spirits stuck between sleep and reality, and Lalli looked at the shadows roaming around, knew it meant that they were driving through dangerous areas that he hadn't scouted a safe route through. He scratched his upper arm nervously, said a quick prayer to the gods to keep them safe before he started his journey over the unprotected areas. He had to be quick.

Even though he wasn't entirely sure where the other two had their sanctuaries he started walking, hoped his senses would lead him in the right direction. From time to time he had to stop, rest a little to let the pain in his leg subside before he could continue. He didn't know how long he had been walking around aimlessly when he heard sheep. He walked towards them, noticed a bright green, rocky clearing and stopped by the barrier protecting it. He could force himself through it, but it would do more harm than good, and he only came around to see if... He pressed himself against the barrier.

There! He could see a red braid sticking out from underneath a pile of sheep, could see a gloved hand resting ontop of a dog. Lalli leaned his head against the barrier, sent a thankful thought to the Icelander's gods. His fylgja was there, the Icelander would get well again if he only got enough rest. Lalli pulled himself away from the barrier, frowned. He had to find Emil as well. He looked around, searched for clues to where his friend could be, but couldn't feel anything. He bit his lips and started walking in hopes that he'd manage to just stumble over it.

He hadn't walked far when he felt grass beneath his feet and he ran face-first into an invicible barrier. Lalli pressed against it, tried to see something inside. It was dark, but he could see something moving in there.

”Onni!” he called. ”Onni!”

Whatever was moving stopped for a second, then Onni came up to the barrier.

”Lalli? What are you doing here?”

”How is he?”

Onni let out a sigh.

”Get in here. I know you're strong enough to do it.”

Lalli hesitated, then pressed his hands against the barrier and pulled it open. He stumbled through the hole, fell to his knees and breathed heavily. Onni's eyes were glued to the barrier and Lalli turned his head to it as well. The hole was still open, took longer than it should to close. They waited in silence, ready to defend the place if any wandering spirit showed up. An eternity had passed when the hole finally closed and Onni helped Lalli to his feet.

”How are you?”

”Fine”, Lalli answered, but was stared down by Onni. ”...hurt. Broken leg, nothing worse.”

Onni crossed his arms over his chest, stared at Lalli and Lalli stared back. Onni had bags under his eyes and looked more worn out than usually and Lalli looked away. Onni laid a hand on his shoulder.

”Try not to disturb him, okay?”

Lalli nodded and Onni led him deeper into the darkness. Lalli heard sounds coming from it, but couldn't see anything.

”Animals”, Onni explained. ”His sanctuary is full of them.”

They stopped. Lalli looked around, noticed something lying in the grass and went up to it. Emil. He fell to his knees. Emil's clothes were bloody, his hair lifeless and his eyes closed.

”Is he...” Lalli started and Onni nodded.

”Dying. I can't do much for him from here...”

”You can... You can tell them to send a boat!”

”They're already trying and I'd have to leave to tell them that. Do you really want that?”

Lalli looked away, then he looked at Onni again.

”From Denmark. Tell them to send it from the base!”

Onni stared at Lalli for a while. He turned towards Emil, then back at his cousin. Nodded.

”But”, he said, ”you have to return to your own sanctuary. No protesting.”

Lalli looked at Emil, clenched his hands and nodded.

”Just get them to listen.”

”I can't promise anything, Lalli...”

”No. I made... I made a mistake. And now he's dying. Help me make it right”, Lalli looked at Onni. ”No more mistakes. We can't make any mistakes.”

Onni nodded, sank down next to a tree. He patted the ground beside him and Lalli sat down next to his cousin, looked at Emil once more before opening his eyes.

xxxxxxx

”I... what? You sure? Hang on, we're... uhm...”

Lalli looked at the door, listened to Sigrun's voice, ignored his cousin who was sitting on the edge of the bed and tried to get him to practice Swedish. He heard Sigrun flipping through some papers and then calling for Mikkel. Mikkel came inside the tank, looked at Lalli and Emil before heading to his captain's side.

”Where exactly are we?” Sigrun asked.

Lalli imagined Mikkel smiling at her lack of knowledge, then pulling out a map. He heard the older man say something in Danish over the radio, but couldn't hear what.

”Come on, Lalli, you were doing so good”, Tuuri tried.

Lalli continued ignoring her, ignoring the paper she held infront of his face. They had arrived at the coast and with no more driving to do Tuuri had spent the last two days trying to get Lalli to study more Swedish, but Lalli just couldn't bring himself to it. He spent most of the time staring at Emil, counting the breaths the other took, noticing how he slowly got paler and paler. There had been no news about the boat yet and Lalli had lost hope that they'd be able to save him.

The foreigner had woken up at least. Still pretty weak, but alive and well. Mikkel had forbidden him to get up until he could figure out what was wrong with the Icelander, not trusting neither of the mages when they said it was merely a magic exhaustion. Lalli let out a sigh, pulled his fingers through Emil's hair.

”Come on, don't you want to be able to talk with him when he wakes up?”

”He won't...”

”Don't say that, of course he...”

Sigrun entered the room before Tuuri could finish the sentence. She leaned against the doorframe, looked at the two Finns. Lalli sat up, clenched his hands.

”Good news, squirts. We've got a boat!”

Lalli looked at her, didn't know what to say. Relief washed over him, then worry came back, his stomach felt like it was about to turn inside out.

”W... when?”

His nails were cutting into his palms and Tuuri grabbed his hands, patted his undamaged leg. Sigrun's smile widened.

”They're leaving the Øresund base now, so if they don't meet with any sea beasts and the weather stays clear they'll be here around midday tomorrow.”

Lalli opened his mouth to say something, shook his head, looked in Emil's direction and looked at Sigrun again. A worried frown was visible on her forehead.

”Aren't you happy?”

”Of course he is”, Tuuri answered, ”he's just overwhelmed, isn't that right, Lalli?”

Lalli nodded at Tuuri's words, clenched his hands again. Tuuri grabbed them, smiled at him.

”See, Lalli”, she said in Finnish. ”Everything is going to be fine.”

Lalli looked at the paper Tuuri had dropped to the floor when Sigrun entered, leaned down and picked it up. His eyes scanned over it, before he turned towards Emil.

”...hang in there... buddy.”

Tuuri's smile widened when he asked her to continue teaching him. Sigrun left the room again to keep Mikkel company, Reynir woke up after a couple hours and joined the language lesson. At dinnertime Mikkel and Sigrun joined them again, then went back outside together with Kisu. Lalli made an attempt to follow them, he wanted to see their surroundings himself to figure out how safe they were, but Tuuri gave his broken leg a light punch and he stayed put, continued working his way through the Swedish words his cousin had given him.

When night was getting closer Mikkel prepared the beds and then everyone went to sleep. Lalli laid awake, unable to fall asleep, and stared at the bed above him, listened to the sounds of his crewmates. He looked towards Emil, could barely make him out in the darkness. He sat up carefully, pulled himself as close to the other as he could. No one moved, no one was disturbed by his movements. His head hit Sigruns bed and he bent down, rubbed his hands over his head. Still no movement, only from Kisu, who jumped down from Reynir's chest and jumped up in Lalli's bed instead. She purred in his direction, then rolled up on the blanket his leg was resting on. Lalli leaned against the wall, pulled his fingers through his hair. His eyes resting on the sleeping form of his friend as he tried to find a comfortable position. He noticed Reynir moving on the floor and looked at the Icelander instead. Reynir turned his head towards Mikkel before he sat up, looked towards Emil and then moved to the edge of Lalli's bed.

”There's one thing I haven't tried”, he whispered. ”But, uh, I'm not sure I'll do it right. Should I do it anyway?”

”Why ask me?”

”Because you're his friend.”

They looked at each other for a while, both quiet. Lalli nodded and Reynir looked around, looked at Lalli again.

”I need to borrow your knife.”

Lalli gestured towards the other end of Emil's bed. He heard Reynir crawl over there, listened as the other mage searched, but kept his eyes on Emil. Reynir found a candle, lit it and handed it to Lalli before continuing his search for the knife and Lalli lifted the candle, let the light dance over Emil. Mikkel had covered him in a blanket, but Emil had pulled his right arm free and placed it above the cover. His right hand had been bandaged, Lalli could see small traces of blood on it. Emil's right leg was also free, tied to two planks that reached from his ankle to the upper part of his thigh. Lalli hadn't paid much attention to exactly how broken Emil's body was, but now, with everyone asleep, he let himself do that. Reynir came back to his bed, carefully pulled the blanket down and Lalli held the candle closer to Emil so Reynir could see what he was doing, to allow himself to catch a better glimpse of his friend.

The bandages around Emil's throat had gotten bloody again, same with the ones covering his stomach. Emil's left arm was still tied to a plank, but the bruise had spread from his elbow and instead his whole arm shifted in shades of blue and purple. The bruising was still most intense around the elbow though. Lalli remembered that Mikkel said it was broken, but from what he could see it seemed worse than that.

He heard Reynir draw a sharp breath before he got up to his knees and leaned over Emil. Lalli saw blood in his left hand and Reynir dipped his thumb in it, started drawing on the bandages covering Emil's chest, the only bandages that wasn't bloody before. He listened as Reynir muttered in Icelandic, words Lalli couldn't understand and that wasn't meant for his ears anyway. A prayer. Reynir sank down on his bed again, looked at Emil and Lalli did too. A large B with an extra leg sticking out from its back had been drawn, in blood, on the Swede's chest.

”A healing rune”, Reynir explained. ”At least I hope so.”

They heard Mikkel moving in his sleep and Reynir quickly covered Emil with the blanket again.

”What are you two doing up?” Mikkel asked and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

”Couldn't sleep”, Lalli muttered.

”I... got an idea”, Reynir answered truthfully and looked at Emil, ”but maybe it was just stupid.”

Mikkel rolled his eyes, told them to go back to sleep and then rolled to his other side. Reynir looked at Lalli before crawling back down in his bed and Lalli threw another glance at Emil before blowing out the candle and laying down. It was probably his imagination, a reflection of the hope that had lit up in his chest when he heard the news about the boat, but he was certain Emil looked slightly less pale.

xxxxxxx

The next day Lalli was unable to eat. His whole body was tense, he kept his ears and mind peeled for the slightest sign of anything that could prove a threat to their rescue, any sign of the boat coming. Mikkel, Sigrun and Tuuri took turns watching the radio, Kisu was scratching wildly at the door, not allowed to go outside. Reynir sat leaned against Lalli's bed, his eyes glued to Emil in hope that the rune would help, his hands clasped in prayer. Lalli wished he could do something, anything, to help, but nothing came to his mind. As he watched Reynir praying someone called for them over the radio and Tuuri started the engine, started navigating the tank to where the boat was.

Something moved in the corner of Lalli's mind and he got up, called for Sigrun. Mikkel yelled for him to stay down and then something crashed into the tank. Lalli lost his balance, screamed as he put weight on his broken leg. He almost fell over Emil, but grabbed Sigrun's bed and managed to stay upright. Reynir looked at him, his eyes wide, and Lalli nodded.

”What should I...” Reynir started.

”Keep Emil safe.”

Tuuri came inside and Lalli grabbed his rifle, took the belt with Emil's knife and tied it around his waist. His cousin looked at him, didn't protest. Lalli bit his lip.

”Protect Reynir.”

Tuuri nodded, sank down on the floor near the Icelander. Mikkel came inside as well, made his way past Lalli wihout saying anything about him being up and Lalli went out of the bedroom, noticed Sigrun sitting by the door.

”A giant”, she said. ”The boat has seen it, but can't fire. Risk of hitting us.”

Lalli nodded, grabbed his rifle tighter. Mikkel came back outside, packed with explosives and Emil's gun, and Sigrun nodded towards the Dane. The tank shook again and Mikkel grabbed Lalli's arm to keep the Finn from falling. Lalli heard several things throwing themselves at the tank's side.

”Beasts”, he said.

”Alright, we can do this thing.”

Sigrun smiled, but her voice quivered. Lalli decided not to comment on it. She got up.

”Mikkel, you focus on wearing the beasts down. Use all the fire if you need to. Lalli, we're taking the giant. I'm not sure how many heads it has, but we have to get them all. You'll be okay?”

Lalli nodded and Sigrun opened the door, moved out of the way and Mikkel threw a couple of grenades to clear the way. Sigrun rushed out first, followed by Mikkel and then Lalli. Lalli leaned against the tank, rested the rifle against his shoulder and took aim towards the giant. He could see seven heads, a couple of them toothless, a couple of them filled with sharp teeth. One neck seemed to be extendible and Lalli made sure to take that head out first.

One clawlike hand swept him off his feet and he cried out in pain as it cut through his shirt and his skin. He felt more than he heard how the beasts turned to him, distracted by his scream, but then Emil's rifle rained amo over them. Mikkel's aim was almost as bad as Emil, Lalli noted, but it got the beasts to focus on the Dane again. Lalli dragged himself to his feet, tried to ignore the throbbing in his side and the pounding in his leg. Once more he laid the rifle against his shoulder. One head destroyed. Two. Three. He couldn't see Sigrun, but heard her yelling at the giant. Another beast approached and he pulled his knife, buried it in the beast's brain. Blood splattered over him as Mikkel managed to hit a head that was coming for Lalli and he nodded to the Dane, sheathed the knife and took aim for the giant with his rifle.

The giant turned around, Lalli heard a sceam, and he quickly fired at the three new heads that came into view. The giant showed no signs of slowing down and it turned around again. Lalli threw himself to the ground just as the giang threw itself into the side of the tank, he heard screams from inside, from outside, and Emil's gun went off again, then clicked. Mikkel was out of ammo.

Lalli grabbed his knife again, took out two heads hanging over him. Sigrun's rifle went off, but clicked after only a couple of shots, and Lalli loaded his rifle, destroyed the heads he could see, and then he was out of ammo as well. The giant stumbled, part of it fell towards Lalli and he tried to roll away but it hit his chest and he lost his breath. He gasped for air, closed his eyes. This was it. He should have insisted harder, should have bugged them more about going home earlier, before they left for Odense. It was too late now.

The giant rolled off him, he heard his ribs cracking. He tried pulling himself to his feet again, didn't want to go down without a fight, but something hit his head and he fell back down, darkness swirled his mind. The sound of voices and gunshots reached him before he blacked out.

 


	4. The last night

Lalli opened his eyes, but closed them again. The world was spinning around him, swayed beneath him. His head felt heavy, his body pained. He tried opening his eyes again, blinked a couple of times, but managed to keep them open. His right arm was stiff, he couldn't move it, and he lifted his left arm instead, tried to pull his fingers through his hair, but noticed his head being wrapped in something clothlike. His hand fell to his side again.

Something came into his view, something large, and he tried to move away, but pain shot through his body. The large yellow thing stopped by his side, leaned over him and said something Lalli couldn't understand. Lalli shook his head. It looked at something next to Lalli's bed before speaking again, slower this time.

”How are you feeling?”

Danish, Lalli recognized it now.

”...hurt.”

”Understandable. Your values are looking good though.”

Lalli opened his mouth, then closed it again. He kept his eyes on the Danish-talking thing beside him, saw a face looking at him from inside the yellow thing.

”We came in the nick of time, good thing your friends called for us instead of the Icelanders.”

Lalli's head pounded and he closed his eyes again. The Dane continued talking, but Lalli didn't listen. He had almost fallen asleep again when something crossed his mind and he reached his hand out, grabbed the Dane.

”The others?”

The Dane avoided his gaze.

”The Icelander is okay. The rest...” The Dane trailed off. ”Don't worry about them, focus on getting better.”

Lalli's hand fell down again and sleep grabbed him. He kept no track of how many times he fell in and out of sleep, had no idea how much time had passed. He woke up for the umpteenth time as a sunray danced over his eyes. He blinked, looked around. Light had been turned on in the room, he heard the soft beeping from the machines next to him. He made an attempt to sit up, but his upper body was stiff, covered by something hard, and he decided to stay put, at least until he was entirely awake. While waiting he took the time to look around. The room was small, with only enough room for the bed and the machines monitoring him. The walls had been painted a sickly white colour, but a painting of a couple of cows had been hung up on the wall to cheer the room up a little. It didn't help.

Lalli turned towards the window above his bed, looked at the tiny piece of sky he could see through the round glass. The sky was blue, clearer than he had seen in a long while, and from the way the shadows fell he could tell it was around midday, early afternoon. He let out a sigh, looked towards the door instead.

Where were the rest? How were they? Were they still alive? He tried to remember what had happened, turned his gaze towards the ceiling. His head started pounding and he gave up his attempts to backtrack in time.

”I don't care!”

The voice was muffled, distorted by the walls, but he kind of recognized it. The words sounded weird, neither Swedish nor Finnish, but closer to Danish. Not exactly Danish though.

”You let me out of here right this moment!”

Norwegian, yes. He had heard it a lot during the last months. He looked at the door again, saw two people dressed in yellow hazard suits rush past.

”I want to see my crew!”

Had the Danes picked up someone else while waiting for the fourteen days of quarantine to end? His eyes stayed lazily on the door and the hazardsuited people showed up again, seemingly pushed back by something. Something that was tall and stopped just outside his door, with crazy eyes and wild, red hair. Sigrun. Lalli tried to sit up again but his right arm got stuck beneath the windowstill and he had to stay down. She turned towards him, grinned and opened the door.

”Hey, twig!”

Lalli looked at her. Half her face shifted in various shades of blue, red and green, there were stitches on her forehead and her upper body was covered in bandages. Apparently she hadn't had time to put on a shirt before breaking out of her room. She sat down on the bed, laughed at him.

”You're not looking much better, you know. How you doing?”

Lalli forced himself to look away from her, look into the ceiling again.

”...fine.”

”Mhm.”

She sat in silence for a while. Lalli didn't know what to say and instead he listened to the Danes outside of the room. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but Sigrun seemed to be able to figure it out because she leaned closer and whispered:

”I wasn't allowed to get out.”

She sat up again.

”Like the could have kept me locked up in there without any news for two whole weeks!”

”You... You've heard something?”

Sigrun shook her head.

”Reynir's doing good, apparently he wasn't hurt in the attack. I think I heard Mikkel yesterday, but I'm not sure.” She looked away. ”A couple of beasts got into the tank, I saw it just before I fainted.”

Lalli's eyes widened.

”Tuuri?”

”I don't know, no one tells me anything.”

Lalli made a new attempt to get up, but Sigrun held him down, laughed.

”You're not getting anywhere like that. You must have taken a mighty blow during the fight!”

For the first time Lalli looked towards his stiff arm, let his gaze travel from the hand up the arm. It was covered in something white and he lifted his head slightly, noticed the white material continuing over his shoulder and covering his chest. His gaze carried on to his right leg, also covered in the same hard material and he let his head fall back to the pillow, groaned. Sigrun patted his uncovered shoulder before getting up.

”I'll see if I can find the others, you hang in there, buddy.”

Lalli nodded, closed his eyes. Listened as Sigrun opened and closed the door again. There were more questions dancing in his mind, more questions that wanted answers, but he'd ask those when she came back. He stared at the ceiling while waiting, listened at the Danes rushing past, tried to make Sigrun's voice out among all the others. Sometimes he though he heard it coming closer, but then one of the yellow hazardsuits walked by instead. One of the Danes came inside the room, looked at him, before starting taking notes from the machines. When she was done she leaned over Lalli, smiled.

”Tired of laying down? Want me to raise the bed?”

Lalli nodded and she bent down, the bed shook slightly and shortly thereafter Lalli found himself in a sitting position. He noticed the needle in his arm, followed the plastic tube hooked to it and his eyes fell on a plastic bag hanging next to his bed. The woman smiled again.

”We had to keep you hydrated. You've been sleeping for almost a week.”

”The others, how are they?”

”Miss Eide is up and about, currently yelling at the staff. Mister Madsen is also up, insisting that we look through some of the books with him. Important medical records apparently. Miss Hotakainen and Mister Árnason is under observation, but has so far not shown any signs of the rash illness. And...” She looked away, let out a sigh. ”Mister Västerström is... We're doing what we can, but...”

Lalli felt panic washing over him. He looked at the woman, fought back all impulses of grabbing her and shaking her until she gave him the answer he needed. How could he not be well yet if they had been on the boat for a week?

”He stopped breathing yesterday.” She sat down on the bed. ”There was some internal bleeding, we noticed it too late. He's still alive, but only barely.”

Lalli shook his head.

”Let me see him.”

”No one is allowed in there, only the doctors. He needs rest.”

Lalli shook his head once more, made an attempt to get out of the bed, but the woman was in the way. He glared at her.

”Get out of my way, I need to see him.”

”I can't let you do that, not yet.”

Lalli continued glaring, but she didn't move.

”He's in surgery right now. I can ask the doctors if they'll let you see Mister Västerström tomorrow, if you want to.”

”I want to see him now”, Lalli pouted, then let out a sigh. ”But if tomorrow is what I get I'll take it.”

”Good”, she got up again. ”I'll tell them to bring you some food, if we get Miss Eide to stop harassing the crew maybe the two of you can eat together in here. I'll come around again before the night shift.”

Lalli nodded and she got out again, Sigrun came back shortly after. She told him what she had found out, which wasn't much more than what the woman had told Lalli.

”Apparently Emil's been almost constantly in surgery since we arrived. They stitch him up, but the wounds keep opening up.”

She helped Lalli with the food, eating most of it herself since Lalli wasn't feeling hungry. After an hour she was ushered out and Lalli looked out the window instead, looked at the water around them. He had no idea where the boat where. He leaned back in the bed, fell asleep. Maybe Onni would be waiting for him in the dreamworld.

xxxxxx

”Mister Hotakainen.”

Lalli yawned, blinked. Looked around and noticed two people in the room, a chair with wheels between them. One of them had been shaking him to wake him up, and he saw her moving back. The woman from the day before. She smiled at him.

”This is doctor Andersen, he'll be following you to Mister Västerström.”

She gestured towards the second person and Lalli saw a bearded face look at him through the plastic in the suit. The woman and the man moved closer, grabbed him and he tried to fight back, and they let him go again. He breathed heavily, glared at them, and they looked confused.

”Did you not want to meet with Mister Västerström?”

Lalli nodded at the man's words and he gestured towards the chair.

”We need to get you over to the wheelchair, you're in no shape to walk over there, Mister Hotakainen. I apologise if it is uncomfortable to you, but it is the only way you will be getting there.”

Lalli looked at the chair, at the two humans and then he nodded again, let them help him over to the chair. The man led the way, the woman steering the chair. The man stopped outside a room and Lalli could see Emil's name on it.

”Mister Hotakainen, I need you to be quiet in here, Mister Västerström is still sleeping and he needs his rest.”

The man opened the door, pushed the wheelchair into the room. Lalli looked around, noticed that Emil's room was a lot bigger than his was. There was a curtain at the end of the room, he could see the bed's legs under it. Lots of machines were standing along the wall to the right, all of them with cables leading behind the curtain. Lalli bit his lip and frowned slightly.

”Mister Västerström, you have a visitor.”

The man's voice was low and Lalli waited for Emil to answer, but the Swede didn't say anything. The curtains were pulled apart and Lalli was pushed to the edge of the bed. He looked at Emil, closed his eyes. Emil's right leg had been put in a cast just as big as Lalli's, his left arm was casted from the wrist almost up to the shoulder and his right arm was casted up to his elbow. He was pale, his face covered by a mask that was, as far as Lalli knew, helping him breathe. Lalli saw thin cables leading down under the bandage covering Emil's upper body. He clenched his hand, looked at the machines by the wall. He had no clue what all of them were doing, what they was keeping track of. The man patted his shoulder and he heard the door opening and closing as he was left alone. Carefully he put his hand over Emil's. The Swede was cold to touch and Lalli hugged his hand tighter.

”Emil...”

Lalli swallowed, didn't know what to say, remembered the doctor's words about being quiet. He looked at Emil, tried to reach up to pull his fingers through the Swede's hair, but couldn't reach it and grabbed Emil's hand again. He smiled slightly at the thought of what Emil would say about the nest his hair was currently forming. His cheeks got wet and he let go of Emil's hand, dried his cheeks. Tears? His eyes was filling up and his vision got blurry and he pulled the hand over his eyes, but new tears replaced the ones he dried off. He leaned back in the wheelchair, looked at the ceiling and intertwined his fingers with Emil's. He listened to the beeping of the machines, not as regular as the machines he had woken up with, and he bit his lip again, felt more tears escape his eyes. He didn't know what the machines was doing, what they were counting, but whatever it was it couldn't be good.

The door opened and Doctor Andersen came inside again, went up to him. Lalli hugged Emil's hand again, looked at his friend. Doctor Andersen went to the machines, checked them and Lalli dried his tears, blinked them back.

”...Get better soon, please.”

Doctor Andersen came back, grabbed the wheelchair and drove Lalli outside again. Sigrun waved at him and grinned widely in his direction when they came out of the room. Doctor Andersen made a huffing sound, but steered Lalli in her direction and she smiled at the doctor.

”I can take care of him now.”

”Mister Hotakainen should go back to bed, miss Eide.”

Sigrun dismissed his words with a wave of her hand.

”Don't worry, I'll look after him. Wanna see Mikkel?”

”Miss Eide, I insist...”

”And I totally agree with you about that. You totally insist. Anyway, come on now, Lalli, Mikkel's further down the hallway.”

Lalli looked at her, raised an eyebrow and she smiled, pushed doctor Andersen to the side and took hold of the wheelchair, pushed it down the corridor. She didn't stop until they were almost at the end of the hallway, knocked on one of the doors.

”Come in, Sigrun.”

Sigrun pushed the door open, pushed the wheelchair through the open door and closed the door again. Mikkel's room was also a bit bigger than Lalli's, but far from as big as Emil's. The Dane looked up from the book and looked at Lalli, who looked away.

”I am glad to see you up, Lalli. How are you feeling?”

Lalli opened his mouth to answer, choked on his words and lifted his hand, dried his eyes as they started filling with tears again. Sigrun laid a hand on his shoulder, but he couldn't stop shaking. Mikkel grabbed something standing on the side of the bed, made his way to a chair Sigrun had placed Lalli next to and sat down on it. Lalli could see a cast covering his left foot and he sniffled, tried to regain his posture to find out how the medic was doing, but was unable to.

”...Are you worried about Tuuri?”

Lalli nodded unconvincingly, and he heard Sigrun sit down on Mikkel's bed.

”Or is it Emil?” the Dane continued.

More tears filled Lalli's eyes. Mikkel gave him a towel to dry them off.

”I do not have anything else to offer. How is he? Have you heard anything?”

Lalli sniffled again, looked at the Dane. Mikkel had clawmarks covering the right part of his face, his left arm rested in a sling, but otherwise he seemed pretty well. Lalli pressed the towel against his eyes, tried to stop the tears.

”There is nothing wrong with crying”, Mikkel said. ”It can be quite healthy.”

Lalli shook his head, took a shaky breath, sniffled and blowed his nose into the towel.

”He's... I don't... He was so cold. What if...”

”Lalli, look at me.”

Lalli lifted his head, looked into Mikkel's eyes.

”What have they told you?”

”He stopped breathing, and his wounds keep tearing. And, and there was...” Lalli shivered. ”...he was bleeding inside...”

Lalli gestured over his stomach, to emphasis the words, and looked at Mikkel. Mikkel looked away, stared at Sigrun, and Lalli stared at his knees again. He took a deep breath, heard Sigrun move, heard Mikkel mutter something to her. Sigrun placed a hand on Lalli's knee and he looked towards his captain.

”Lalli, I... The gods have kept him alive this long, they wouldn't wanna take him after all that trouble, okay? He'll be up and about one of these days, just have faith in him.”

Lalli looked away. Serious Sigrun was not something he was too used to and it felt uncharacteristic of her, but he was grateful that she hadn't just laughed and told him to stop worrying.

”Think I can get them to let me see him as well?”

Mikkel smirked.

”Sigrun, if he is in such bad condition he need peace and quiet to be able to heal. You are the opposit of that.”

”Pff, who asked for your opinion anyway, big guy?”

Lalli listened as they bickered back and forth, images of Emil in the bed passing his mind from time to time, leaving his eyes full of tears again. He thought back to when he first felt the fylgja following him, thought back to when he figured out it belonged to Emil. If he had asked Reynir to guide him at once when he figured it out, maybe their trip would have ended differently, maybe Emil would have been sitting in the room with them, laughing together with Sigrun while brushing Lalli's hair. Lalli clenched his hand again, leaned back in the wheelchair, looked at the ceiling.

After an hour Sigrun helped Lalli back to his room, helped him get back into bed. She sat down in the wheelchair when she was done, breathed heavily and looked at him.

”You okay?”

Lalli started nodding, changed his mind mid-nod and shook his head instead. He looked towards the door.

”Hurts, here”, he said and placed a hand ontop of the cast covering his chest. ”...and everywhere else”, he added. ”You?”

”Me? I'm great! I'm ready to head out on the field and all!”

He looked at her, smiled slightly. She was still winded after helping Lalli, her forehead a bit sweaty. She leaned forward, ruffled his hair a little and then got up.

”I'll see you again later, okay? They'll probably lose their minds if I'm not back in my room soon. We'll try to find out more about your cousin tomorrow, okay?”

Lalli nodded, looked at her as she opened the door.

”Sigrun...” She stopped and looked at him. ”...thanks.”

”Nothing to talk about. Sleep well.”

She smiled, closed the door behind her and Lalli looked at the ceiling instead, fell asleep shortly after.

xxxxxx

Sigrun woke him up the next day and he looked out of the window, noticed it being late in the day already. She just laughed, waved it off with him being a night-scout anyway and that he wasn't supposed to be awake during the day. She helped him to the wheelchair again, wheeled him out of the room.

”Emil's in surgery again. Heard them when they rushed past my door.”

Lalli didn't answer, only nodded, and Sigrun stopped outside Mikkel's door, knocked on it before opening.

”You coming, big guy?”

”Sigrun, neither of us should be up and moving around.”

”Wasn't asking that.”

”...I am coming. I am blaming you if they catch us though.”

”Fine by me!”

Mikkel came outside, he had a crutch in his right hand and was limping heavily. Sigrun grinned, patted his back and then grabbed Lalli's wheelchair again, continued down the corridor. They didn't meet anyone, Lalli guessed the crew was busy with Emil or something, but the door at the end of the corridor had been locked. Sigrun stared at it, tried to see anything through it.

”I'm certain they're in here... Should we break it?”

”That would most certainly not be a wise decision. Maybe if you tried knocking?”

”Yeah, let's just stroll up to the secret, locked area, knock on the door and then they'll let us in.”

She knocked on the door anyway, Lalli guesst it was just to prove to Mikkel what a silly idea it was, and about thirty seconds later they saw a face peeking at them through the frosted glass in the door. They exchanged glances, and the person looked confused at them, then held up five fingers. The person disappeared again, Mikkel sat down on a bench a couple meters from the door and Sigrun rolled Lalli over there as well, sat down herself.

”So, what now?”

”I think we wait.”

Lalli glanced at the door, scratched his neck. Mikkel looked at him, but Lalli avoided looking at the older man.

”Are you feeling okay, Lalli?”

Lalli nodded. Sigrun elbowed Mikkel in the side.

”Let him be, he don't need you fuzzying over him.”

”I am not 'fuzzying' as you so velformuleret put it. I was simply asking a very relevant question.”

”Yeah, well, he's a tough guy, he can handle stuff.”

”I have not implied that he can not.”

Lalli listened as they continued talking, kept his eyes on the door and waited for something to happen. After five minutes it opened up, a woman in her fourties walking up to them. The first one Lalli had seen that had not had a yellow suit. He tilted his head.

”Mister Hotakainen?” she asked when her eyes fell on Lalli and he looked around, nodded. She smiled and turned to Sigrun and Mikkel. ”And you must be miss Eide and mister Madsen. May I?”

She gestured towards the bench, and Sigrun moved closer to Mikkel so the woman could fit as well. She sat down, smiled at them.

”My name is Agnethe, I am miss Hotakainen and mister Àrnason's caretaker. I assume you want to know how they're doing?”

”Like heck we want!” Sigrun exclaimed. ”No one here tells us anything!”

”It is not their job to tell you anything, it's their job to make sure you're rashfree and that you get healthier. It's not really my job either but...” She looked away, sadness filled her eyes, but then she smiled again. ”You will probably feel better knowing, am I right?”

”My cousin, how... was she attacked?”

Agnethe nodded and Lalli bit his lip, looked away.

”She was lucky though”, Agnethe hurried to say. ”Whatever rash creature attacked her didn't break her skin, she's just being held in extra closed quarantine because she's not immune. Same with the mister Árnason. He desperately wants to meet you though.”

”How... how is she?”

”Some broken ribs, a pretty bad concussion. She's awake and asking for news about you four...”

Agnethe looked around, realizing she was only speaking to three people.

”...Mister Västerström, how is he?”

”We kinda hoped you could give us more news on that”, Sigrun said. ”But pretty bad.”

”There's little communication going on between these two wards”, she gestured to the door. ”It's a high risk-area in there, only the immune crew is allowed in there and we're not really allowed to leave until the 14 days are up. They treat this ward as a high risk area as well, to be on the safe side, but security is even thighter in there. I shouldn't be out here talking with you. What they don't know though...” She winked at them. ”Anyway, I should return. Miss Hotakainen and mister Árnason will be happy to hear that you three are doing well. ”

She got up. Lalli looked away, but just as she was about to leave he grabbed her coat.

”Can you... tell Reynir to meet me. He'll understand. Tonight.”

Agnethe looked confused but nodded. She waved at them before disappearing into the door again, just as they heard steps in the other end of the corridor. A hazard suited person walked quickly in their direction and all three tried to arrange their faces as innocently as possible.

”You should not be up”, the person in the suit hissed at them.

Lalli hadn't seen him before and looked away, at the door Agnethe had disappeared into. The man followed his gaze.

”Worried about your cousin? Don't be, it's only a few more days of quarantine now. You'll hear about her before you even know it.”

Lalli nodded, felt the man grabbing the wheelchair. He tried to protest, but the man waved it off, told him he had already been up long enough the day before. Sigrun followed them, but Mikkel's steps faded behind them, he was unable to keep up. Sigrun tried telling the man off, tried raising her voice at him, but then they were back in Lalli's room. Lalli tried holding on to the chair to make the man unable to lift him into the bed, but the man had clearly experienced it before because he got Lalli to release his grip and moved him to the bed in not even a minute. Lalli pouted and looked out the window as the man raised the bed so he almost got into a sitting position.

”Miss Eide, you should return to your room as well.”

”Let me see you try to force _me_ to go anywhere.”

Her voice was low and Lalli turned his head, looked at her. She stared at the man, put her hands infront of her, ready to punch if he moved in. He glared back at her, then let out a sigh.

”Fine, you can stay. But only for half an hour. You both need rest!”

He walked past her, made his way through the door and they heard his steps disappear in the corridor. Sigrun smiled, sat down in the wheelchair since there wasn't anywhere else to sit, and looked at Lalli.

”Figured you could use some company. I know I could.”

They heard steps outside, and Mikkel peeked in, made his way inside. He looked even bigger in the small room and he gave a small smile.

”Cozy”, he commented.

Lalli nodded and Mikkel settled down on the edge of the bed, put his casted foot on Sigrun's knees.

”I've been downgraded from Captain to footstool now?”

”I apologize, but there really wasn't anywhere else.”

”No worries, I've been through worse.”

Neither of them kept track of time, it rushed past, and without a warning the door was opened and the woman Lalli had first seen on the boat entered.

”You've been here for two hours now.”

Her voice was stern, but her eyes had a softness to them and Lalli could tell she wasn't upset. She turned towards Lalli.

”Mister Västerström is out of surgery now. Do you want to see him?”

Lalli sat up straighter in the bed, winced a little as pain shot through his body. The woman smiled.

”You have to eat first, dinner will be here in ten minutes. I'll ask doctor Andersen to help you to mister Västerström's room after that.”

”Can we see him too?” Sigrun asked.

The woman looked away.

”I'll asked doctor Andersen, but I can't promise anything. Mister Västerström needs peace and quiet and...” she looked at Sigrun again, ”you haven't really shown that you're able to do any of that.”

”I can be quiet!”

Mikkel laughed, hushed her and turned to the woman.

”I will keep an eye on her to make sure she maintain a low voice level. Do not worry, we will not disturb Emil while visiting him.”

The woman looked insecure, then nodded.

”I'll ask doctor Andersen. It really is up to him since mister Västerström is under his care. I'll be back after dinner to fill you in.”

She smiled, waved and left. Conversations about nothing in particular returned to the room, Lalli looked at the water outside the boat while listening to Mikkel and Sigrun, very rarely saying something. Dinner arrived just as the woman had said and Mikkel helped Lalli eating after Sigrun had cut it for both of them.

”The two of you really are helpless.”

”It is good for us that you are around to help us then. Lalli, open up, you need the energy.”

Lalli let out a sigh, opened his mouth. He prefered to do it himself, but he knew he risked getting food all over the cast if he tried since he couldn't bend down. Mikkel put the plates on the floor when they were done, he and Sigrun proceeded to discuss what would happen when they returned. Lalli wasn't interested, he hadn't come along for the books and the knowledge anyway. He thought back to the day he left Keuruu together with Tuuri, wondered how it would have been if he had protested and refused to board the boat. Maybe the expedition wouldn't have left since there wasn't a scout, maybe nothing of this would have happened. He wouldn't have met the others, but he wouldn't have  _needed_ to either. He drew a shaky breath and the other two stopped talking, looked at him. Lalli shook his head.

”Lalli, are you...”

Mikkel was interrupted by the door opening. Doctor Andersen came inside, looked disapprovingly on Mikkel and Sigrun before turning to Lalli.

”I was told you wanted to see mister Västerström again today.”

Lalli nodded and doctor Andersen looked at Mikkel and Sigrun as well.

”And the two of you too, I heard.”

Sigrun didn't move, didn't say anything, but Mikkel nodded.

”I will follow you in there. Only one visitor at the time, and you can't stay for long.”

Mikkel, Lalli and Sigrun looked at each other, then nodded. Sigrun got out of the wheelchair and moved to help Lalli back into it. Mikkel got up from the bed and limped out of the room so he wouldn't be in the way and doctor Andersen also came up to the bed, helped Sigrun move Lalli. Doctor Andersen went ahead and Sigrun wheeled Lalli out of the room.

”You go in first”, she said to him as they got closer to the room.

Lalli tried smiling to her, but couldn't bring himself to it, his body nervously tensing up and he had to clench his hand. Doctor Andersen opened the door, wheeled Lalli inside and placed him next to the bed again. Emil didn't look any better and Lalli pulled at the blanket covering him, not knowing what to do with his hand. Doctor Andersen sat down in a chair near the door and Lalli tried to ignore him, tried to ignore the machines, the cables connected to Emil's chest, the mask covering his face and the tube in his arm. He intertwined his fingers with Emil's again, caressed Emil's hand with his thumb. He thought he felt a movement in the hand, but it stopped as soon as it started and Lalli wasn't sure if it had just been his imagination.

”Emil, why...?”

Lalli hugged Emil's hand harder, then released his grip, put the hand in his lap instead. He wanted to say something, wanted to reassure Emil that all would be well, but with doctor Andersen in the room it wasn't possible. He leaned his head back, looked into the ceiling, listened to the machines. The regular beeping made hm relax just a little.

”Emil, you'll make it. Okay? You have to.”

Doctor Andersen coughed and Lalli fell quiet again. After a couple more minutes Lalli was wheeled outside again and Sigrun was allowed inside.

”Wow, he's  _really_ looking terrible!” Sigrun's voice cut through the door.

”Miss Eide, I warned you...”

”Just look at that! Are you sure he's even alive?”

Sigrun was thrown out from the room after only 10 seconds. She grinned at the other two, laughed a little.

”Seems I wasn't able to be quiet after all.”

Doctor Andersen glared at her, then turned to Mikkel.

”Did you also want to see him, mister Madsen?”

Mikkel nodded, got up. Sigrun smiled at him, told him she'd take Lalli back to the room and Lalli felt the chair starting to move, but didn't protest. He heard her voice, but couldn't quite make out what she said, already dozing off. She helped him to the bed, ruffled his hair. He opened his eyes slightly, looked at her and then closed them again. He could feel the raft beneath his back and he opened his eyes, looked at the sky, listened to the water below him. He drifted in and out of a deeper sleep, revisiting their time in the Silent world while waiting for Reynir in his sanctuary.

Time passed in a blur, he felt someone shaking him and returned to his safe zone. Reynir.

”Hi”, the Icelander said.

Lalli closed his eyes, put his left arm over his face. The raft moved a little as Reynir sat down on it.

”How are you?”

”mrf.”

Silence. After a couple minutes Lalli removed his arm, looked at Reynir.

”I think there's something wrong in Emil's sanctuary.”

Reynir frowned. Lalli looked at him, waited.

”So... What should we do?” Reynir asked after a while.

”Get Onni.”

”You're meeting us there?”

Lalli looked away again.

”I... can't.”

”Why not?”

Lalli tried lifting his right arm, but barely managed to get it a centimeter off the raft. It shook and he dropped it again.

”Too damaged.”

Reynir got to his knees, forced his hand in under Lalli's back and pulled him into a sitting position.

”I'll help you.”

”You'll lose too much time.”

”Emil has survived this far, I'm sure he'll still be alive when we get there. He would want you to be there.”

Reynir got to his feet, Lalli did his best to make it easier for Reynir to pull him up, but his body felt weak, was hard to move. He leaned against Reynir, the other wrapped an arm around him to help support him, and then led him through the marsh. They walked slowly, often having to stop so Lalli could gather his strenght. Even though he was free in the magespace the weight of the casts still burdened him, his broken bones still hurt. Reynir muttered encouraging words, but Lalli didn't listen, focused on putting one leg infront of the other, focused on not stumbling on his own feet. The barrier opened for Reynir, let him inside, and Onni rushed to meet them, fussed over Lalli, and Lalli sank down next to a tree.

”There's something wrong in Emil's sanctuary”, Lalli said when he had gotten his breath back. ”I need you.”

”But you're safe now, aren't you? How can there still be something?”

”I don't know. Please, I'm not strong enough!”

The two cousins stared at each other, Onni was the first one to look away.

”You should stay here”, he said, but Reynir protested.

”I want him to come, he knows Emil best, Emil needs  _him_ .”

”But if it's dangerous...”

”Lalli needs to come along.”

Onni lost another staring competition and Reynir helped Lalli up again, put his arm around Lalli's waist and put Lalli's left arm over his shoulder. Onni came up to Lalli's other side, looked at his cousin.

”Are you sure?”

Lalli nodded. Onni grabbed Lalli's arm carefully, was about to put it over his shoulders so Lalli could support against him as well, but Lalli winced, his face scrunched up. Onni stopped, waited for Lalli to gather himself and then tried again. Lalli winced sligthly, but let Onni do it and they left Onni's santruary together, Reynir leading the way. The sea got wild as they got closer, Onni muttered spells under his breath to keep them away and then they were outside Emil's sanctuary.

Darkness laid thick over it, the barrier had fallen. Flames crawled along the grass, climbed the trees and Lalli saw animals running from them, escaping the sanctuary into the sea that was crawling with the spirits of rash creatures. Lalli forced himself to not look at them, to focus on the task at hand. Onni continued muttering spells, water raised from the sea to douse the fires and the three of them walked deeper into the sanctuary. Emil laid in a clearing in the middle of the fires and Reynir and Onni let go of Lalli, Lalli mustered all his strenght to not fall to his knees. He forced himself to focus on Emil, to look at his friend. Emil's right side flickered, was already transparent, and a dark shadow leaned over Emil's left side, struggling to break free, but seemed to struggle to get back as well.

”Emil...”

Lalli's voice shivered and the shadow stopped, looked at the three of them. A new fire erupted next to Reynir, but Onni quickly doused it out. The shadow grew bigger, grew smaller and Emil got more transparent, less transparent. Reynir clasped his hands, fell to his knees. Energy flowed from him, spread over the ground and Lalli saw a rune glowing beneath their feet. The shadow attacked, was pulled back. Reynir's rune spread, reached the ground beneath Emil. It turned black beneath him, pulsated slowly. Emil's body started glowing, faded. Lalli noticed thin lines spreading over it, into the earth. Reynir's rune was forced back and Lalli called his luonto, heard Onni muttering spells beside him, calling his own luonto. The two animals tried forcing the shadow back, pressed it towards Emil's body.

”Emil!” Lalli called again. ”Emil, you have to come back!”

The shadow flickered, moved back, tried to pull itself out of Emil's body. The rune under them changed, glowed green instead of red. Lalli called for Emil again and the rune raised itself infront of him, pressed the shadow back, dispelled the luontos as it reached them. The rune encapsulated the shadow, forced it closer to Emil again. Lalli's legs folded beneath him, he fell to to his knees, called for Emil. Emil's body pulsated again, fires erupted around them, but Onni quickly took them out.

”Reynir”, Lalli muttered, tried to grab his arm but fell to the ground. ”Reynir, a healing rune.”

Reynir opened his eyes, looked at Lalli, looked at the shadow. The rune around it disappeared, its hand broke free from Emil's body. Emil's body got more transparent and the ground around him got blacker. Reynir closed his eyes again, blue lines flowed from his hands into the ground. Lalli saw the healing rune infront of Reynir, saw it following the blue lines into the ground. Grass sprouted beneath them, fires erupted. Onni pulled him away, guided the water to the fires.

”Onni, keep them...”

Lalli opened his eyes, looked into the white ceiling. He blinked, tried to go back to sleep, but was unable to. His eyes teared up, he clenched his hand. His whole body ached and he hit the mattress, screamed. People came inside, he couldn't make out who they were through his tears. Something stung his arm, his muscles relaxed and he fell into a deep sleep, unable to wake up in his santuary.

xxxxxx

They weren't allowed to see Emil the following days, they didn't get any news about Tuuri and Reynir. Mikkel and Sigrun spent a lot of time in Lalli's room, Lalli no longer talked with them, only listened and barely that. He fought to come back to his sanctuary, but never made it there, always slipping into deeper sleep. The woman he had seen so many times finally introduced herself, Frida, and she started insisting that he got up and moved around. Lalli complied, but only as much as he had to to get her to leave him alone. She didn't bring him any news about Emil and he was afraid they had been too late, that Emil had past away during the fight. He hoped Reynir had sent him to their gods.

”We will be allowed ashore tomorrow”, Frida said one evening.

Lalli nodded to show that he had heard her words, but kept his eyes on the window. He no longer saw the sea around them, didn't want to see it, his eyes all the time searching something in the spiritrealm, but he could no longer see the spirits of the people visiting him. It made him feel vulnerable, sick. Frida tried to get him up again, helped him out of bed and supported him while he slowly limped through the corridor. He stopped outside Emil's room, but Frida made him continue and when he got back to the bed his leg throbbed, his body ached. Frida elevated his leg, some of the throbbing subsided, and he looked out the window again, closed his eyes. Made a new attempt to reach his sanctuary, but the door was locked. Sigrun and Mikkel came inside again, had dinner with him, talked about the next day when they would reach land again, talked about what the crew would say when they saw them. No one dared speak Emil's name.

Lalli woke up in the middle of the night. The room was pitch black, he knew almost everyone was asleep this time of the day, but he still felt like something had woken him up. He looked around, but no, he was alone in the room. A light danced in the corner of his eye, barely visible. He looked at the window, but there was no moonlight making its way inside and he looked around again. He could feel something in there with him, but he couldn't see it. He closed his eyes, opened them again. Something brushed against his arm, something warm. Slowly he started making out the vague shape of a small horse, a shape that was there and yet wasn't. He lifted his hand.

”Emil...”

The horse looked into his eyes, then faded again and Lalli's hand fell to the bed again, he closed his eyes and found himself on his raft, looked at the sky above him. The small pony nuzzled his arm before getting up and leaving the sanctuary. Lalli looked after it as it disappeared, closed his eyes and let himself fall into the deeper sleep again.

Emil would be fine.

 


End file.
